


Paladins vs. Evil Dead

by littlebitofafixerupper



Category: Ash vs Evil Dead (TV), Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: BAMF Allura (Voltron), Biracial Lance (Voltron), Bisexual Male Character, Blood and Gore, Brother-Sister Relationships, Dark Magic, Demons, Eventual Keith/Lance (Voltron), F/M, Female Pidge | Katie Holt, Female Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, Gay Keith (Voltron), Gen, Good versus Evil, Heterosexuality, Homosexuality, Horror, Hunk & Lance (Voltron) Friendship, Korean Keith (Voltron), Lance & Pidge | Katie Holt Friendship, Lance (Voltron) is a Mess, M/M, Minor Matt Holt/Shiro, Pansexual Character, Pidge | Katie Holt Being a Little Shit, Pidge | Katie Holt Swears Like a Sailor, Pidge | Katie Holt is Savage, Platonic Female/Male Relationships, Platonic Male/Male Relationships, Protective Shiro (Voltron)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-05
Updated: 2017-08-04
Packaged: 2018-08-27 09:49:57
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 11
Words: 27,997
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8396980
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/littlebitofafixerupper/pseuds/littlebitofafixerupper
Summary: Eleven years ago, evil forces were released from the book of the dead, causing a major change in the life of Takashi Shirogane. Now in the present, the evil has returned not just for Shiro, but for his friends as well. Perused by a mysterious woman and a no-nonsense detective, Shiro, Lance, Keith, Hunk and Pidge must find a way to destroy the Book of the Dead and put an end to the forces of the evil dead before it's too late! Based on Sam Raimi's Evil Dead Triology and the Starz Original Series Ash vs. Evil Dead.





	1. ANNOUNCEMENT

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A lil announcement!

GUYS!

 

Hello, to anyone who is still waiting for this update/ just started/ found it/ etc:

 

I AM RETURNING

 

Voltron Season 3 gave me my drive back and with Ash vs Evil Dead right around the corner as well, I will be making a return to this story! Update will be up soon! Pinky Promise!


	2. The One-Handed One

“Not just a good deal, but a Big Deal!”

          He’d heard that phrase uttered day in and day out, regardless of the fact that he was just the stock boy. Granted, having only one hand made it a bit difficult, but overall, he managed.

          What had happened eleven years ago still haunted him to this day, kept him up some nights, afraid to go to sleep. It had been worse before, but overall, he managed.

          He’d been doing a lot of that lately. “Managing”… Managing his one hand, managing his anxiety, managing the fact that a large portion of his normally jet black hair was now white and had been ever since the incident that had cost him his hand eleven years ago. Sometimes he liked to think it was all just a huge nightmare, but his hand and his hair told him otherwise. He hadn’t sought help, because nobody would ever believe what he’d seen and what he’d gone through.

They would have to see it to believe it. And he didn’t wish that on his worst enemy.

          “Shirogane!”

          He jumped, nearly sending the box of shampoo in his arms crashing to the floor as he looked over, seeing his manager approach. His manager was nice enough, tall, red-headed, a mustache that was too precise to not be styled with hair gel every morning and, overall, a rather eccentric personality.

          “Feeling all right this morning, I take it?”

          “Er… yeah. I mean, no different than usual.”

          “Good. Then I hope you won’t mind restocking the register shelves this evening during the graveyard shift. Nobody’s ever around, so clearly, that’s really the best time to do it.”

          He sighed, smiling a little. At least he didn’t have to go home, alone. In the dark. With that book in his home…

          “Yeah, sure. I-I’d love to.”

          “Good man! I can always count on you! I like that!”

          “Me, too, Coran.”

          “Ah, that’s _Mister_ Coran.”

          He raised an eyebrow.

          “Just a joke, Shiro.” Coran told him, patting his shoulder, “Just finish up with that shampoo and come on up front. Lance is working tonight so you can’t say you won’t have someone to talk to!”

          “Yeah, really.” He chuckled.

          “Right, then. See you in a few tics!”

          He smiled a bit as Coran left before going back and stocking the shampoo, feeling a bit better about the evening.

          Takashi Shirogane was, in short, a damaged man, in more ways than one. One, there was his hand, no doubt about that. Second was his psyche. He’d seen some major shit and nobody would believe him if he told them. He didn’t really blame them though… it all sounded a bit ludicrous. Like something out of an eighties indie horror flick or something… but, nonetheless, it had happened. And now, he was left with the thing that had caused it all. But still, it remained, locked up tight in a chest in his home, where it couldn’t be discovered or hurt anyone.

          “Ay, yo, Shiro!”

          Shiro turned to see one of the cashiers, a young, 18 year old by the name of Lance McClain, leaning on the magazine racks beside his register, a grin on his face as he sipped a soda he’d gotten from the machine.

          “Slow night, huh?”

          “You can say that again. But, I’m glad. I like the slow nights. They’re peaceful.”

          “Mm-hmm. Nobody crazy around, looking for that one crazy deal, no ladies claiming that their ‘Credit card cannot be declined do you even know who I am?’ or anything.” Lance mused, “Still… it is kind of eerie though. All the quiet.”

          “Oh, don’t tell me your lanky ass is scared.”

          Lance and Shiro both looked over, both of them seeing the newest member to the team, a young, 17 year old girl, her light brown hair pulled up in a ponytail, large glasses on her face.

          “Scared? Pfft, me? Whatever, Pidge. _You’re_ the one who should be scared. We still haven’t told you about the swamp thing that lives in back of the store in the dumpster that likes to feast on headstrong newbies. Especially girls.”

          “Very funny.” Pidge told him as Shiro looked over at Lance, confused. Who was this girl?

          “Lance?”

          “Hmm?”

          “Who’s this?” Shiro asked, squinting a bit.

          “Oh, her? That’s just Pidge. Or, Katie, I guess you could call her. Newest cashier. Apparently a total genius. She’s only 17 and graduated high school at 15. Already has an associate’s degree. Can you believe that crap?”

          “Whoa… how smart is she?” asked Shiro, in awe of this little, petite teenage girl.

          “Pretty damn smart, Shiro. She’ll probably get the Nobel Prize for breathing or something.” Lance said.

          “Huh…”

          Shiro looked over at the girl again. Something about her just seemed… familiar, somehow. But how? He’d only just met her…

                                                          

* * *

 

          After a while of stocking the shelves, Shiro had arrived home at around a quarter to midnight, collapsing on his bed in his mobile home. Deciding that it might be better to live in than an actual house in the event that he might have to motor and leave at any second due to what had been caused recently, Shiro had decided on a nice, cozy, mobile home.

          As he laid on the bed, trying to figure out why Pidge had been so familiar, he heard a knock at his door.

          “ _What the- who can that be at this time of night?!”_

He then got up and went over to the door, opening to find his elderly neighbor, Mr. Campbell at his door.

          “Evenin’, Shiro!”

          “Mr. Campbell.” Shiro said, “What a nice surprise… um… what are you… what are you doing up?”

          “Oh, I just wanted to come by and warn ya. Seen some raccoons roamin’ around these parts of the park, didn’t want ya gettin’ rabies or nothin’.”

          The gesture made Shiro chuckle a little as he offered a kind smile to the older man. “Well, I appreciate that, Mr. Campbell. Always looking out for me.” he said, “Thank you. I'll keep an eye out. Now um... excuse me, please. I... hate to go but... I need to get my dinner started. Goodnight!”

          Shiro then expected the man to reply as he began closing the door. He got a reply, just not one he'd been expecting...

          “ _We're coming for you, Shiro._ ”

          Shriro stopped dead in his tracks. That voice... it sounded... eerily familiar.... and like something... not of this world.

          He then peered between the crack in the door and let out a soft, involuntary gasp of horror as he saw Mr. Campbell, his mouth twisted into a grotesque smile, his eyes completely whited out, his teeth now jagged and dirty as he chuckled the same, deep, unearthly chuckle that sent a familiar shiver down Shiro’s spine.

          “ _We're here for you, Shiro. We'll get you for what you did. We’ll get your sweet, aerobicized ass, pretty-boy!_ ”

          Shiro then broke eye contact, the back of his neck beginning to drip with sweat as he suddenly felt sick... maybe he was seeing things?

          Taking a deep breath, he opened the door to see Mr. Campbell now totally restored to normal, standing where he'd been before, smiling broadly.

          “All right, man. Have a good night!” Shiro heard the older man call as he left. As the man walked back to his camper, Shiro kept watching him suspiciously. He half expected him to stare at him through the window, but, really, all he did was go and sit down, turning on his small television.

          _“Get it together, Shiro... you're all right... it wasn't real...”_

          Sighing, Shiro then closed the door. As the door closed, Shiro jumped, startled by a box that had fallen over, spilling its contents on the floor.

          “Oh, jeez...” Shiro muttered as he knelt down, picking up the assortment of books that had fallen out of the box. How could he have been so foolish? The evil was gone! And he knew it!

          Then he picked it up...

          The book. _The_ book. The book that had been bound in human flesh and inked in blood... the ancient book that came from ancient Sumerians... the book that had killed his friends and colleagues eleven years ago in the woods.

          And then he remembered what had happened.

          Shiro had been tipsy that night, bringing home a young man in his early twenties from the bar he attended. Not for anything sexual, but simply for some company due to the fact that Shiro had felt lonely that night.

          Of course, Shiro had fallen asleep, leaving the man to find something he shouldn't have found... and led him to read what should not have been read.

          He remembered hearing those four words... those words that meant utter doom...

          “ _Kunda.... Estrata.... Montose... Conda...”_

That night, Shiro had sent the man away, locking the book away in the cupboard. He'd hardly slept a wink.

          Now, he stood in his mobile-home, the book clutched in his one real hand, resting on his wooden one as he held it tight, remembering the night eleven years ago where total evil had been awakened... costing the lives of all of his colleagues and friends at that cabin... including Matt's... his boyfriend at the time.

          And now, here Shiro was, eleven years later. Alone, in his mobile home, totally vulnerable for it to catch up with him... and nobody to defend him except for himself... and some weapons he'd used before... eleven years ago. He'd be woefully out of practice...

          And, at that moment, Shiro swore he heard a low, guttural growl from outside, sounding as if it were getting closer, at an alarming rate...

          As the growls got closer, they began to form words... words that Shiro was all too familiar with before... words he'd heard uttered to him the night his friends had died... the night he's lost his hand... the night his life had been turned upside down...

          “ _Join Us..._ ”

          Shiro then realized what he needed to do, but not being very happy about it, uttered,

          “Oh... Christ."


	3. For Cereal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A detective gets a rude awakening when she has a run in with the evil dead; Shiro learns the dangerous qualities of a box of cereal.

_I have a bad feeling about this place..._

That was her first thought as she got out of her unmarked police cruiser, her partner, Williams, by her side.

Allura Alfor did not scare easy, which is why she had been such a perfect candidate for detective. She was young, beautiful, and as strong as any man in her department, perhaps even stronger. Her long hair was pulled back into a ponytail, it's color being such a light shade of blonde that people could've sworn that it was white, ,as if someone had scared her to death.

But Allura didn't get scared, so that couldn't be possible.

“Williams, stick close to me. Keep your weapon ready.” she told her partner, who mumbled something back that she didn't catch because she was already retreating towards the house they'd been called to. They'd received a call about twenty minutes ago from a man. A young man, by the sound of his voice. And he sounded terrified... which was why Allura had felt so shaken. Along with the eerie fog and grown up lawn that sprawled in front of the house like a large, brown and green shag carpet.

She then made her way up to the door, pressing it open, surprisingly. She motioned for Williams to follow her, taking her weapon from it's holster.

“Hello? Is there anyone there? Police!” she called out, but the only answer she received was the sound of her echo reverberating off the house's walls and back to her. She took a deep breath before looking over at the wall, blood splattered all over as if something had been sliced off. Nonetheless, she kept going.

And then she saw him.

There was a young man, about 25, tall and slender, standing in the center of the room by the window. From the sound he was making, it almost sounded like he was crying. She motioned for Williams to follow as she slowly approached the man.

“Sir? Are you all right? Are you the one who called us? I'm Detective Alfor, this is Detective Williams. We're going to get you out of here, all right?”

The man then whispered something that sounded like some sort of made-up language that she didn't catch. She furrowed her brow, staring at the man.

“Sir? I didn't catch that... are you all right?”

As she approached, she felt more and more intimidated. Why wouldn't he turn around to look at her? What had he said before?

She then reached for him as she approached and was suddenly shocked as she saw something she thought she'd never see.

The man's head spun, full 180 degrees and looked at her, sneering, his teeth yellowed and rotten, his eyes completely whited out, causing Allura to gasp in horror, recoiling.

“I said... _I'LL RIP YOUR FUCKING SOUL OUT, BITCH!_ ”

Suddenly, Allura felt a harsh, ramming pain in her chest as she found herself flying across the room, grunting as she collided with a wall, looking over at the man, whose body had now spun around, a harsh, demonic sounding laugh escaping his throat as he began to approach her.

“Alfor!” she heard Williams scream, her partner firing his weapon at the man, blood spraying from the wounds.

“ _Why hasn't he fallen down, yet?!_ ” she thought. Before she could pull her gun, she watched as the man grabbed Williams, hauling him up like he were merely a sack of potatoes and whirling him around like an athlete participating in the hammerthrow at the Olympics.

“Williams!” she cried out. But it was too late...

The man cackled his horrible laugh and then let go of her partner, sending his body flying up towards the ceiling and into the whirring ceiling fan, the blades now spinning faster, slicing Williams' body to pieces, his arms, legs, and torso flying in every direction, his head hurling towards her, his eyes still wide form shock as his severed head landed in front of her, his blood showering the room. As Williams' head blinked for the final time, Allura screamed, backing away as she then got up, cocking her gun as the man laughed his loud, ominous laugh again.

“ _Not a_ _ **fan**_ _, I see._ ” the man snarled, his rotten, yellow teeth making up his terrifying grin as he started towards Allura.

“ _Shit! You have no choice! Do it!_ ” her mind screamed as the man approached, prepared to strike when Allura fired her weapon at his face, his head exploding into a mess of blood, skull and brain matter as he began to attack, soaking Allura's brilliant, nearly white hair with blood, causing her to squint her eyes closed.

Slowly, she opened her eyes again, looking down at the now headless corpse that littered the floor, breathing deeply as she suddenly heard a whispering... as if something was retreating... she only heard what it said for a moment, before it disappeared entirely.

At least, she could've sword that she heard utter,

“ _JOIN US._ ”

 

* * *

 

“Uh... Shiro? You okay?”

“No, he's not okay. He looks like death warmed over in a cocoon of tinfoil. Baked potato style.”

“Dude, don't mention potatoes. I'm starved.”

“Breakfast was an hour ago for you!”

“So?!”

Shiro then snapped out his daze, looking at both of the young men that had been asking about him.

“Oh... I'm fine, guys. Just... had some trouble sleeping is all.” he insisted. True, he hadn't slept barely at all since he'd had that encounter with Mr. Campbell last night. It had just... unnerved him so much...

“Hmm. Well, I mean... sorry to hear that, man.” Lance told him, placing a hand on his shoulder, “Why don't you ask Coran if you can take the rest of the day off? I'm sure he wouldn't mind.”

“Yeah, since you're like... always on time for everything. And have the most perfect attendance next to me.”

“Hunk, you show up every day because of the food you work with. Admit it.”

“So what if I do?! Food is an art form!”

Shiro looked over at Lance's longtime best friend, Hunk Garrett, a rather large, chubby boy who managed the deli at Big Deals. If anyone was passionate about their job, it was Hunk. Funnily enough, Shiro had actually found that Hunk had been a pretty handy guy as well, often fixing the stoves and microwaves in the store. One time he'd even fixed a few cogs in the deli cooler, make it work even better than before.

“Yeah, yeah. Tell that to your whole castle of bologna.”

“You leave Sandwich Castle out of this, Lance!”

Lance then chuckled, patting Hunk's shoulder. Shiro was always so impressed by the sheer difference in size between the two: Lance being more slender and lanky, Hunk being the larger, more sturdily built one. For a guy that was built like a chunky linebacker, Hunk looked like he was ready to fall down more than often, but Shiro guessed that was due to his overall paranoid nature. He always seemed to striving for utter perfection, especially in food.

“Relax, man. No hard feelings.” Lance assured his friend, “I love your bologna castle.”

“Yeah, I figured you did.”

“How could I not?”

As Shiro watched the boys talk, he laughed a little, deciding not to let a little lack of sleep ruin his day.

“Hey, guys, I'm gonna go get the cereal boxes from the back, okay? Be right back.”

“Kay!” he heard them both say in unison before going back to talk. Shiro then made his way to the back and over to the pallets of Count Chocula, Boo Berry and FrankenBerry that they had recently gotten in for the Halloween season. As he went through the module, he saw that one box of Count Chocula was missing.

“ _That's weird..._ ” he thought as he looked behind the pallets, thinking it might have fallen behind one. As he looked, he heard a rustling sound behind him, making him turn suddenly, looking behind him.

“Um.... Lance? That you?” he called, but received no answer. “Come on, kid. You know how I feel about that. Cut it out, okay?”

Again, no answer.

Shiro then shrugged, going back to the pallet of cereal, deciding that he was hearing things.

But he'd been wrong.

As he turned around, he was greeted by the smiling face of the cereal mascot, Count Chocula, except for now, the face had morphed into something worse... almost demonic in nature, it's eyes white and it's fangs dripping with blood as the mascot's arms extended out of the box, a loud, shrill cackle ringing out as the hands closed around Shiro's neck, throwing him to the ground.

“ _What the hell?!_ ”

As he hit the ground, Shiro then turned to see the cereal box, _moving on it's own,_ the arms and hands of Count Chocula moving him towards him, his fangs out as the cereal box screamed, sinking it's fangs into Shiro's shoulder, causing him to let out a wail of pain.

“ _YOUR FILTHY HUMAN SOUL TASTES LIKE CHOCOLATE, MOTHERFUCKER!_ ” the box growled in a rather bad Bela Lugosi impression as it bit into Shiro again.

“NO! GET OFF ME, GODDAMMIT!” Shiro shouted at the box, refusing to let an animated _cereal box_ kill him! He flung the box across the stock room, the box screaming as it sailed into the floor, dazed, allowing Shiro to get up and move away, looking for something to get rid of it with.

As Shiro had gotten up, the box chuckled again, running at him again, screaming as it's fangs bared. Shiro turned, expecting another attack... but it never came. Instead he heard something that sounded a lot like a large,

_THWACK!_

With that, the cereal box fell to the ground, blood gushing from it's lips as it got up, preparing to strike again.

“ _I'LL SWALLOW YOUR SOUL! SWALLOW YOUR SOUL! SWALLOW YOUR SOUL!_ ” it yelped repeatedly as, suddenly, it was crushed by the blow of a large shovel, blood and small innards spraying from the body.

Shiro could hardly believe what happened. Who... who had saved him? Who had done this?

He then looked up, seeing the two people he last expected to see, the smaller of the two holding a large, blood stained shovel, the two of them sprayed with cereal box blood.

Lance and Hunk.

“What--”

“The--”

“FUCK?!”

Shiro looked up at the two, who seemed to be more confused than scared. And hell, they had every right to be. They'd just smashed a cereal box into a pile of blood and organs. _That_ was something you didn't see every day.

“So… I’ll bet you boys have quite a bit of questions for me.”

Shiro had managed to get up from his position on the storeroom floor, dusting himself off a bit as he looked over at the blood-stained Hunk and Lance, Lance still holding the bloody shovel in his hand, both boys paler than he’d ever seen, their darker complexions now whiter than ever.

“That box of cereal… was… ALIVE?!” Hunk yelped, grabbing onto Lance’s shoulder.

“Oh… dude, I think I’m a Boo Berry person now…” Lance told him, looking down at the large splat of blood, organs and chocolate cereal pieces that had been the box of Count Chocula, “Oh shit… does this make me a _cereal_ killer?”

Both boys then looked form the box and over at Shiro, Lance’s eyes shifting to the shovel, a grimace crossing his face as he tossed it away as if it were a sweaty piece of laundry.

“Um… Shiro? You seem… awfully calm about this.” Hunk pointed out, “How can you-”

“How can you just stand there when a box of friggin’ cereal just tried to eat you?!” Lance bellowed out.

Shiro shrugged as he looked down at the splatter of the cereal box. It was something new, yes, but nothing crazier then what he’d seen before.

“Same shit, different day, boys. Just in a different form this time.” Shiro said, sighing. “Okay… here’s the deal, guys. You wanna hear a story? About how I got this hand?” asked Shiro, holding up his right, wooden hand.

“I thought it got crushed by a tire!” Hunk told him.

“No, I heard it was a food processor!” Lance protested.

“No, guys… it wasn’t any of those things.” Shiro assure them, “But… those things are way more believable then what I’m about to tell you. But… bear with me, okay?”

“So it _was_ a garbage disposal!” Lance butted in, “I knew it!”

“ _Lance!_ ”

“Okay.” Said Lance with a sigh as Shiro took a seat on one of the pallets, the two younger boys sitting across from him, huddling close to one another as he began to tell his story,

“It was about… eleven years ago that it happened,” Shiro began, “I’d just turned 21 and decided to go on a trip to a secluded cabin with my colleagues. One of my old professors had recently made the discovery while exploring Egypt. He discovered that he’d stumbled upon a book called the _Naturon Demonto_ or, as it’s more commonly known, the _Necronomicon Ex-Mortis_ , which, when roughly translated, means ‘Book of the Dead’.”

“Oh man… don’t like where this is going.” Hunk remarked, holding onto Lance, who gave his forearm a reassuring pat as Shiro continued his story.

“The _Necronomicon_ itself is bound in human flesh and inked in blood and believed to have been written by ancient Sumerians. The book’s text included passages that ranged from ancient Sumerian burial rights, funerary incantations and various passages that could resurrect demons from another world, which, many believed to be hell.”

“My professor made the grave mistake to read aloud from this book, which awakened something in the woods… something not of this world. Something… evil.”

Hunk then held tighter to Lance, Lance beginning to feel his friend’s palms sweat. He wasn’t going to lie… he actually felt a bit freaked out as well.

“Whatever it was, it came for us all… and it took my friends from me, including my boyfriend at the time, Matt. Made him into something-”

“Whoa-ho-ho-ho! Hold on a sec! Pump the brakes, man! Stop this wagon train, muchacho!” Lance interrupted, “So… you’re _gay_?”

“Well, not exactly.” Shiro said, “I’m a pansexual if you want to get technical.”

“Wait…. Like… what?!” Lance asked, shocked, “Dude, I would’ve never guessed that!”

“Why?” asked Shiro, his tone curious.

“Because you’re just like… well… I mean, you… you look like… _that_!” Lance sputtered, gesturing to Shiro’s impressive physical prowess. “I mean, you’re build like friggin’ Hercules or something! And you just seem so brawny is all!”

“What, brawny guys can’t be pan?” Shiro asked.

“Well, I mean, yeah, they can! People can be anything they want!” Lance said, “It’s just um… well, surprising is all.”

“Hey, I mean, you’re bi, Lance.” Hunk put in.

“Dude! What the hell?!”

“What? What’s the problem?” asked Hunk, “It’s not like I told Shiro you like to come to the back and check out his ‘round, wonderfully plump, juicy booty’ in his work pants as he puts away the stock!”

The room was then dead quiet, Lance’s face now red as a radish, his eye twitching slightly.

“Oh… um… heh heh… whoops.” Hunk mumbled nervously, “Um… just forget I said that.”

“Hunk, the next time an evil box of cereal comes to life, remind me to let it eat your face off.” Lance said in a stiff voice, turning around to face Shiro, who looked totally shocked as Lance smoothed out his shirt, taking a seat next to Hunk on the pallets again and taking a deep breath.

“Okay… go on.” He said in an expectant tone, his face still bright red.

“Um… all right.” Shiro mumbled, not sure if he should take the butt remark as a compliment or not, a blush dusting his cheeks as he continued on,

“So… this evil came… made Matt into something not of this world… something that wanted me dead. So… I… had to kill him.” Shiro admitted sorrowfully, “And… then it came for me.”

Hunk and Lance both tensed at hearing this, afraid that Shiro might become some winged demon and eat them alive.

“It… got into my hand and made it go bad. So… I… sliced it off at the wrist with a chainsaw.”

Hunk and Lance both cringed at hearing that, looking down at Shiro’s wooden hand in astonishment.

“I managed to fight off the evil, keeping it at bay, locked away inside the book, which I’ve kept with me all these years. Locked up and out of harm’s way. That is… until recently.”

Lance and Hunk inched forward, immediately invested.

“I… brought a guy home from the bar one night. Nothing sexual or anything, just… wanted some company. I ended up falling asleep and woke up to find him reading the book… out loud.”

“Oh….. shit.” Lance said.

“So… I kicked him out. Haven’t seen him since. And… it looks like that evil’s back to its old tricks again. Judging by the possessed cereal box.”

“So… like… what are you gonna do now?” Hunk asked.

“Are you gonna fight the evil? Please say you’re gonna fight the evil.” Lance added hopefully. Shiro then sighed, scratching at the back of his neck.

“Well… I mean… I guess I’ll have to.”

“Awesome! That is so boss!” Lance cried, getting up from his spot, “And we’re gonna help you!”

“Wait, WHAT?!” sputtered Hunk and Shiro in unison.

“Well, I mean, think about it! We just smashed apart a _possessed box of breakfast cereal_! We’re totally in this together with you!”

“Oh no. No, no, no. No way, no day, Lance!” Shiro told him, “This thing is pure, concentrated evil! It will kill you and not think twice!”

“Um, yeah! Obvie! But that’s why we get to it first! I mean, hey, we just get our hands on some weapons and wham, bam, thank you, ma'am! Take the fight to the evil! Show that bitch whose boss! And hey, you can’t do this on your own, Shiro! Strength in numbers, man! All for one and one for all that three musketeers shit! Come on, man! You need some help with this!”

“Forget it, Lance. I’m not going to put you kids in danger by letting you help me with this. I’ve defeated it once, I can defeat it again.” Shiro told him firmly.

“But what would’ve happened to you had Hunk and I not been here? With the cereal box? Hmm?” Lance asked, “Face it, Shiro. You would have been breakfast for the breakfast! Right, Hunk? Come on, back me up!”

Hunk shrugged shyly, not really wanting to go into this whole endeavor… but… Lance was right…

“As… much as I hate to admit… Lance… is… right, Shiro.” Hunk said quietly.

“There! You see?!” Lance said, wrapping an arm around Hunk. “Come on, Shiro!”

Shiro thought for a moment, weighing his options. True, he would admit, some help would be nice… it really was a chore defeating all that evil on his own the last time… in fact, it nearly killed him multiple times… and he didn’t want to die just yet. Extra hands meant extra help for him…

He then looked at the boys, Lance having a bright, expectant look on his face and Hunk glancing down towards the ground, obviously reluctant.

“…fine.” Shiro mumbled, “But if any of you get hurt, don’t say I didn’t warn you!”

“Yes!” Lance whooped, “Oh hell yeah! We’re gonna Buffy this shit up, man! Cracking evil right over its face!”

“I just hope it doesn’t eat our faces off, first…” mumbled Hunk.

“Oh come on, Hunk! Be positive! It’s gonna be awesome! I mean, we’re like legit monster hunters, man!”

“Ah, I wouldn’t say that just yet.” Shiro told them, “You killed one monster. We’re going up against more, most likely. And I take it you guys don’t-”

“I know how to use a gun.” Lance proclaimed, causing Shiro to give him a look of shock.

“What?”

“Mm-hmm.”

“ _You_ know how to fire a gun?”

“Been doing it for years. With my grandpop.”

Shiro then looked over at Hunk for reassurance. Hunk sighed and looked over at Lance.

“It’s true… and he’s a damn good shot, too…”

“Mm-hmm, you bet I am. Regular Space Cowboy.” Lance said proudly. Shiro raised an eyebrow.

“‘Space’ cowboy?”

“You betcha.”

“Okay… the ‘cowboy’ part I get, but why ‘space’?”

“Cause everything’s cooler in space, and I’m the coolest of the cool, of course!”

“Right…”

 


	4. Storm Brewing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shiro makes his way back to his Winnebago, finding a nasty surprise.

After trying, unsuccessfully, to scrape up the bloody goo that was what was left of the possessed cereal box, Hunk, Lance and Shiro all returned to work, acting as though nothing happened. However, Pidge was doubtful. She’d come in as the three of them were “on break” and observed that all three of them emerged from the back, looking rather suspicious.

Maybe it was due to her nosiness… or her paranoia. She couldn’t help it! She’d always been nosy, growing up. She’d gotten into trouble for trespassing on school grounds multiple times when she’s snuck into her brother’s old campus, looking for any information that might explain where he’d disappeared to, along with her father. She’d taken a bit of therapy, being told to “Find a job to keep her mind busy”, which she’d done. Only trouble was, her mind had a hard time concentrating on something as tedious as working in a department store. But something told her that it was about to get a whole lot less tedious…

“And where have you boys been?” she called over, all three of them jumping as if they’d seen a spider appear right in front of them.

“Er… on break!” Lance said quickly.

“Right! Just grabbed something in the breakroom!” Hunk added as Shiro stood behind them, nervously scratching at the back of his neck. Pidge raised an eyebrow.

“Oh really?” she asked, “All _three_ of you?”

“Oh, undoubtedly!” Lance told her, nodding.

“Yeah! Cause we had to save Shiro from the- oof!” said Hunk as he felt Lance’s sharp elbow in his gut.

“Pardon me, boys? From the _what_?” Pidge asked teasingly.

“From the… sheer sweetness of my chocolate chip cookies!” Hunk said suddenly, “I… brought some from home that I made! Right guys?”

“Oh, yeah! Chocolate chip! My facvorite!” Lance agreed.

“Mm-hmm.” chimed in Shiro with an innocent smile. Pidge smirked at them then before Lance looked out of the transparent automatic doors and frowned a little.

“Oh boy, look whose back. Little 80s angry child himself.” He mused as a boy about his age walked inside, his face buried deep in his phone, his black hair spilling down around his shoulders. “Find another ghost, Keith?”

The boy didn’t respond. All he did was hold up a finger, his hands covered by fingerless gloves. Lance chuckled.

“I’m guessing that’s a yes.”

“According to this, there’s a bunch of weird, supernatural activity here.” Keith said, following a sort of trail his phone as he made his way up to Shiro, sort of scanning him with his phone. He then looked up at the man, looking a bit embarrassed.

“Oh. Um… sorry.” He told Shiro, “It’s just that… it says that _you’re_ the source of activity around here.”

Lance and Hunk looked nervously at each other, then at Shiro, who was red in the face.

“Um… me? No… no that can’t be!” he laughed, “I’m just the stock boy here.”

“Yeah! He’s just the stock boy, Keef!” Lance agreed, turning his attention to Shiro, “You’ll have to forgive Keith, Shiro. He’s got a thing for ghosts, myths and the occult.”

“Hey, I don’t need you talking for me, _cashier_.”

“Um, _employed_ cashier! Unlike _some_ people!” Lance argued.

“Don’t worry, they’re always like this.” Hunk whispered to Shiro, “Best frenemies.”

“Yeah, sure.” Keith said, crossing over to Pidge. “Pidge sides with me on these things. Don’t you, Pidge?”

“Gotta say, he’s right.” Pidge agreed, peering out from above her glasses, you guys are acting pretty mondo weird.”

“We are not acting weird!” all three of them said at once.

As Lance, Shiro and Hunk spoke, suddenly, there was a tremor beneath their feet, the store’s lights blinking.

“Whoa, shit!” Lance cried, “You guys feel that?!”

“Forget feeling it! Look!” shouted Hunk. Just like that, all five of them crowded over to the door, looking outside. The sky had gone from blue to a dark purple, the wind now gushing, sending trash and debris flying through the parking lot.

“Keith, what did you do?!” Lance asked.

“Shut it, Lance! I didn’t do this!”

As the storm raged outside, the group was then interrupted by a panicked shout from Coran, who came running out of the office, holding a briefcase.

“Nobody panic! NOBODY PANIC! Initiate emergency protocol twelve! Everyone remain calm!” he shouted, “We’re going to stay in the store, keep the customers here until this whole thing blows over!”

Shiro then thought for a moment… hearing the growling off in the distance again… and he then knew what he had to do.

He split off from the group, running out the back, much to the dismay of the people around him.

“Shiro! Come back!” Coran shouted after him, but Shiro kept running. He ran until he was out of the store, thankful that the trailer park in which his mobile home was parked at was right behind his place of work. He knew what was causing this… he knew damn well…

And he wasn’t about to let it hurt anyone else. Not now… not ever.

He’d let it kill him if he had to.

As he pressed on, he ignored the shouts of Mr. Campbell from next door, bursting into his mobile home and looking over, seeing the book on the table, not where he’d put it, a flash of lightning lighting up the book’s eerie, face-like cover.

“Hey, you. Been a while.”

* * *

 

 

“I’m going after him!”

“No way, Lance! As your manager, I forbid it! Who knows?! You could die in this weather!”

“I’m going with him!”

At Big Deals, everyone was in disarray. The customers were on the verge of panicking, as was Coran, as Lance and Hunk insisted on going after Shiro.

“Coran! If he can make it, so can we!” Lance argued, “I mean, do you really think that--”

And, suddenly, the tremors stopped. The clouds lifted, the growling stopping as the sun began to come out again, everyone exchanged the same, confused look with one another.

“Well, weather’s good. Off I go.” Lance said, hurrying off towards the door, Hunk chugging along after him.

“Me, too! I’ll make up the hours, Coran!”

Coran was left in a stunned silence, turning to Pidge, “Well, Katie, looks like you--”

But Pidge was gone, as was Keith.

***

“Are we sure about this, Lance?”

“Of course not! But come on! We promised to help!”

Lance then got into his old, battered (or well-loved) Corolla, igniting the engine and riding over to the trailer park.

“How do you know where he lives?” Hunk asked, impressed.

“Easy. Snooped in on his work info. Sometimes ya gotta know these things.” Lance said, pulling up at Shiro’s large mobile home and looking over at Hunk, grabbing a tire iron from the back.

“Okay, big guy. You ready?”

“No!”

“Great, let’s get in there!”

* * *

 

As Shiro stood in his kitchenette, looking down at the _Necronomicon_ , he then heard a knock at his door, making him gasp.

_“Shit… they’ve come for me already?!”_

As he heard the knock, he quickly went into the bedroom and fished out something he hadn’t used in a while from under the bed.

A double-barrel shotgun.

Shiro then took out the weapon, loading the rounds in the barrel before going to the door, throwing it open an aiming at whatever was out there.

“WHOA! WHOA, WHOA, WHOA!”

“SHIT! HE’S GONNA SHOOT US, MAN!”

Shiro then looked down, seeing Lance and Hunk outside, both holding onto each other, cowering in fear under the barrel of his gun.

“Lance! Hunk!” he cried, putting the weapon on the counter. “What’re you doing here?! I could’ve shot you!”

“Yeah, no shit!” Lance told him, making his way inside, Hunk following behind him, “Why do you even _have_ that thing anyway?!”

“For… emergencies.” Shiro said, “A-and who said you could come in?! I don’t remember inviting you.”

“Yeah, sorry about that but you’re gonna have to deal with it, man!” Lance said, “Cause we’re here to help you stop the evil! Which I’m guessing is what made that weirdo storm outside a few minutes ago?”

“…you’d be right.” Shiro grumbled.

“Thought so.” Said Lance, his eyes finding the _Necronomicon_ , causing him to grimace, “Ew, gross! Is _this_ the book?!” he asked, lifting it up.

“Agh! Put that down!” commanded Shiro, snatching the book away from him and placing it on the counter beside the gun, “That’s very dangerous stuff!”

“Well yeah, but I didn’t _read_ it!” Lance protested, “What harm could it do just looking inside?”

“Er, Lance… you sure you really _wanna_ look inside?” Hunk asked nervously, “I mean… it’s written in blood so… that’s probably really unsanitary.”

“A book that can release spirits of the netherworld and beyond and you’re worried about how _sanitary_ it is?”

“Well it could have some weirdo pathogen in it!”

Just then, another knock.

Before anyone could answer, Pidge opened the door and stepped inside, followed by Keith.

“Can we come in? Whoops, already here.” She mused.

“Oh what the fuck?! Come on, get out of here!” Lance whined, “this happens to be a _private_ matter, Katherine.”

“It’s _Katie,_ noodle boy. Either Katie, Pidge, or _ma’am_ to you.”

“All right, time out!” Shiro called over the group, looking at Keith and Pidge. “How’d you two even know where I lived?!”

“Oh, easy. Just followed Lance is all.” Keith said, “He’s not the best sleuth in the world.”

“I’ll show _you_ a sleuth, mullet boy!”

Shiro rolled his eyes, groaning, “Why are you even here?!”

“You three boys are up to something, and this proves it.” Pidge pointed out, “And Keith and I want in.”

“No. Absolutely not! Out of the question!” Shiro said, “Get out, now! The both of you! Or no… all of you! Out! Out, out, out!”

He then tried to corral them out, which resulted in quite a bit of arguing and pushing when, suddenly, another knock was heard at the door.

All five of them stopped dead in their tracks.

“Oh for Christ’s sake…” Shiro sighed, pushing past the kids and going to the door and opening it. “Look, I’m in the middle of something and I really don’t need-”

Suddenly, his sentence was cut off as the hand of Mr. Campbell closed tightly around his throat, the man’s eyes completely white, and his skin more leathery and dry now as he grinned at Shiro. In the back, Hunk yelped, running off and taking cover in Shiro’s bedroom.

“Holy shit!” yelled Lance.

“What the fucking quiznak?!” Keith threw in.

“Shiro!” cried Pidge as Mr. Campbell brought Shiro in closer.

“ _We found you, Shiro!_ ”

 


	5. What You Do With a Chainsaw

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After being found by the evil dead, Shiro must confront his possessed neighbor, Mr. Campbell.

His white eyes searing with evil, the deadite-possessed Mr. Campbell snarled, chucking Shiro away and into the opposite wall of the mobile home, sending him crashing to the ground in a rumpled heap as he continued inside. As he came in, Pidge narrowed her eyes, overcome with rage.

Grabbing for the closest thing, she managed to snatch up an iron skillet from the counter, cracking the old man over the face with it with all her might.

“Leave him alone, you motherfucker!”

As she hit him, his body made a sickening crack sound, sending the man flying into a rage as he grabbed the skillet from her before shoving Pidge backwards and into the kitchenette walls.

“Pidge!” cried Keith, who maneuvered his way around the man, grabbing a large kitchen knife and swinging wildly at him, managing to get a good cut in before the man let out a loud, inhuman wail of pain before showing Keith’s head against the wall, knocking him dazed.

“Oh, fuck this!” Lance snapped, grabbing the shotgun off the counter, “Why didn’t you dumbasses use the friggin’ _gun_?!”

He then aimed the gun at the man, point blank, preparing to fire. “Don’t think you’re human anymore so this should be justified I think… now, say hello to my little-!”

BAM!

Lance fired the gun, but the kick sent him sailing backwards and into the wall, full force, causing him to fall on the ground in a daze.

“Hell of a kick…” he muttered woozily, his eyes going wide as he saw the old man coming towards him, grinning, his whited out eyes burning savagely as his fingernails began to extend into long, sharp points, high pitched giggling escaping his throat.

“Guys! Look at this! I found a chainsaw!”

Everyone looked over at Hunk, who had emerged from Shiro's bedroom, holding a large, red chainsaw.

“Hunk...? Buddy, what the fuck...” Lance mumbled.

“We can use this to defeat the- GAHHHH!”

As he spoke, the old man charged at him, smashing Hunk against the wall and sending the chainsaw clattering to the floor.

“ _Big guy like you oughta have a huge, sweet soul, huh fat boy?!_ ” the old man snarled, cackling in Hunk's face, Hunk closing his eyes and whimpering in fear.

“Ugh.... dude, you've got like... the worst breath! Please... please get away! Please d-don't hurt me! I'm too young!”

Just like that, the old man slapped a dry, cracked hand over Hunk's mouth, leaving Hunk's whimpers and pleas muffled.

“ _Hush now, be a good little fat boy and gimmie that sweet, sweet soul of yours!_ ” the old man snarled again, cackling wildly.

As the old man attacked Hunk, Shiro and Lance both stirred, Shiro eventually rubbing his head and getting up, taking notice of Hunk.

“Oh shit.” he muttered, looking down at his wooden hand.

“ _Well, now's a good of a time as any other._ ” he thought, unscrewing the hand and tossing it on the counter, observing Lance, who was watching him in a daze.

“Lance! Toss me that!” he called over, gesturing to the chainsaw, hoping Lance would take the hint. Thankfully, after looking a bit confused, Lance lurched forward, grabbing the chainsaw by the handle and tossing it to Shiro.

As the chainsaw sailed towards him, Shiro extended out his right arm, the stump extending closer and closer to the approaching chainsaw, aiming for a cavity that had been placed... almost like a mount.

And just like that, Shiro's stumped arm met the chainsaw, the cavity fitting perfectly over his forearm as he twisted it into place, effectively replacing his wooden hand with a weapon he could use to fight off this monster. He gave a few yanks of the pull cord, revving the chainsaw to life as the old man held Hunk against the wall, his hand still clamped over his mouth, preparing to kill.

“Hey, Grandpa!” Shiro called out, the old man's head snapping around to him, his teeth bared. “Let's end this.”

Earning a high shriek from the old man, Shiro readied his chainsaw, the old man letting go of Hunk and rushing towards him.

As the old man ran towards him, Shiro raised his chainsaw arm, swinging it at just the right time as the man came flying at him, the blade slicing through the man’s neck, spraying blood all over the walls as his had separated from his body in a spiraling motion, covering Shiro, Keith, Pidge, Lance and Hunk in the man’s blood, the body and head thudding against the floor. Shiro then looked down, swinging his blood-stained white bangs out of his face as he retrieved the gun, the old man’s head beginning to speak again, this time in a more shrill tone.

“ _Hey! You! I’ll swallow your soul! Swallow your soul! Swallow your soul!_ ” the man cried before Shiro pressed the twin barrels of the shotgun into the man’s mouth, silencing him.

“How 'bout you swallow this?”

Just like that, he pulled the trigger, the old man’s head exploding on the ground into an even bigger splat of blood, leaving the four kids in the room utterly shocked and even horrified. Shiro then powered down his chainsaw as he turned around and looked at them, raising an eyebrow.

“I won.”

“You just chopped that guy’s head off…” Lance observed.

“Yeah.”

“And… then you blew it up. With… a shotgun.”

“Uh-huh.”

Lance, Pidge, Hunk and Keith all gaped at Shiro in amazement. Half an hour ago he was just some stock boy… now he was a buff, shotgun toting badass with a chainsaw hand who had just decapitated his zombified neighbor.

“Um… Sh-Shiro?”

“Yeah, Hunk?” Shiro asked, wiping the blood from his face with his shirt tail.

“What… what was that thing?” Hunk asked, nodding to the headless corpse of the old man that lay bleeding on the floor. Shiro looked down at the corpse, stooping down and propping it up against the cabinets.

“That, Hunk, was called a deadite.” Shiro explained, “A living, human host that had become possessed by the evil of the _Necronomicon_.”

“Could you have saved him?” Lance asked, kicking at the old man’s leg as Pidge leaned over and smacked him on the arm to get him to stop.

“Sadly, no.” said Shiro, “Once the evil takes you… there’s no going back. It’ll try and make others _think_ you’re fine, but really, your mind is gone, clouded forever by the evil. Until, someone has to eventually do the unthinkable.”

“Is that what happened to your friends?” asked Lance. Shiro then looked a bit sad, remorseful, even.

“Yes, Lance… that is what happened.”

“Shit…” Pidge added. Shiro looked over at her, her glasses having fell off in the struggle. As she put her glasses back on fixing her hair, a memory suddenly hit Shiro like a ton of bricks, nearly flooring him.

For a moment he was back in the cabin… with Matt, his boyfriend at the time. Matt had been a genius… always running circles around everyone in the academic world…

“So, Matt, how’d the rest of your family feel about you coming up here for the next few days?” Shiro remembered asking.

“Well, my mom had been totally fine with it, but Katie? She begged me to not to come up here. She wanted me to stay home and teach her algebra.”

“Whoa, algebra?! How old _is_ she?!”

“Six. And she can already multiply and divide better than half of the fifth graders at her elementary school. She’s gonna go far, man…”

And, just like that, Shiro came back, stumbling back against the wall as he looked over at Pidge, who had just finished putting her hair up.

“Shiro? You okay?” she called over.

“Y-yeah…” Shiro lied. He couldn’t tell her about Matt… it would crush her… not to mention, crush him. After all, he’d chopped his head clean off and buried him out in the woods… if he hadn’t the evil would’ve just kept bringing him back… it killed him to leave him there, but Shiro had known what he had to do…

“All right, great. Check this out, Shiro.”

He then jumped as Lance appeared beside him, playing a video on his phone. Shiro saw the deadite Mr. Campbell on the video and watched as he attacked. Eventually, he watched as Lance reached out and tossed him the chainsaw, which he used to slice off the monster’s head, the video going black soon after.

“Tell me that’s not an epic shot!” Lance proclaimed, “Holy shit, man! Holy shit!”

“Why’d you tape it, Lance?” Keith asked, rubbing the back of his head, grimacing as he picked out bloody brain matter from his long locks.

“Um, because if I didn’t, nobody would believe us! Duh! And, if I didn’t give my parents some sort of concrete proof that these monsters exist, they’d never let me go and fight them off with Shiro!”

“Wait, what?!” Shiro asked, “No way, Lance! You aren’t going to-”

“Oh relax, Cruella DeVil, it’s not forever! Just until you put the evil back in the book and ditch it! Then we can come back here, I can go to college and we can work back at Big Deals together, live totally normal lives like nothing ever happened.”

“I-I don’t know, Lance…” Hunk began.

“Oh you _never_ know!” Lance said, “Keith? Pidge?”

Keith thought for a moment, his arms crossed in front of his chest as he pondered the thought.

“Well, I mean… I don’t have anything else better to do. I say go for it.” Keith said, “Pidge?”

Pidge cast her eyes down at the headless corpse of the old man that had just attacked them, taking off her glasses and rubbing them with her shirt tail in an attempt to get the blood off of them.

“We get to off these things that make people into monsters?” she asked. Shiro sighed and nodded.

“Yes, Pidge. That’s what it would be like.”

Pidge then placed her glasses back on and grinned at them all, shrugging a little.

“Well, all you boys are gonna need at least one girl on this team anyway so, count me in.”

Shiro sighed, looking over at Hunk, who still looked rather freaked out and pale over the whole thing.

“How about you, Hunk? You know, you could say no.”

Hunk’s large, brown eyes shifted for a moment before he eventually made his decision:

“Well… somebody’s going to have to make sure Lance doesn’t hurt himself… so, I guess I’m in.” he said in a small voice.

“Yes! Look at us! A team! All five of us!” Lance cheered happily, slinging an arm around Hunk and Keith, “We’ve gotta think of a name!”

“Why is that?” asked Keith, sounding a bit annoyed.

“Well, all the best teams have names! Duh!” said Lance, looking around for something he could use to stem a name off of.

“Er… okay, let me see…” he muttered, seeing a name printed on Shiro’s mobile home above the door. “Hmm… ‘Voltron’. What’s that?”

“Just… what I call this place.” Shiro said as he began to clean up the body of the old man, “Just a fun name I came up with to describe my home I suppose.”

“Well… that’s perfect! ‘Team Voltron: Defenders of… the living’?”

“Eh, I think just ‘Team Voltron’ is good.” Hunk shrugged.

“All right, there we go! Team Voltron!”

As all this was happening, Pidge’s phone vibrated. She’d gotten a million texts since this all began, all from her worried mother, ranging from “‘Katie, where are you?! Are you still at work?! Bad storm coming! Stay there!’” to “‘Storm looks like it has passed. Call me when you get a second.’”

But it was the last two messages that had made Pidge uncomfortable. As she looked at the screen, she saw that they were picture messages. One of them read:

“KATIE! PLEASE COME HOME AS SOON AS YOU GET THIS! YOUR FATHER IS HOME! HE’S ALIVE! CALL ME!!”

Pidge nearly dropped her phone as she looked at the picture her mother had sent. It was a selfie of her… with her father. Her father that had been thought to be dead for eleven years. The same father who had disappeared with Matt when she was only six… the father she thought she’d never see again.

“Guys! Guys! Shut up a second!” she called over the boys in the room, showing her phone to all of them. “Look!”

Hunk squinted and looked down at the phone, tilting his head to the side.

“What? It’s your mom and some guy. Is she dating someone or something? I know that since your-”

“Hunk, that’s my dad! That’s _my_ Father! He’s alive! He’s okay! And he’s at home right now, waiting for me!”

Shiro didn’t like the sound of that. Samuel Holt wasn’t alive… he’d watched him die at the hands of the evil eleven years ago in that cabin… he’d dismembered his body, along with Matt’s…

There was no way this was true… it had to be a trick.

“Pidge… that’s not your father.” Shiro said, knowing full and well that this might hurt Pidge… but he didn’t care. He had to protect her.

Pidge looked hurt. She glared over at Shiro through her glasses, her eyes narrowed. “How would you know?! This is him, Shiro! I know it is! There’s pictures of him _all_ over my house! I know what my father looks like!”

“It’s not your father, Katie.” Shiro said calmly, “It’s the evil. They do this to you. Especially if you’re fighting against it. They find your weakness and they exploit it so they can convert you into one of theirs and I’m not going to let that happen.”

“Shiro! This is my-”

“Katie! _That_ is not your father!” Shiro told her sternly, “Your father is gone, Katie. I know he is. I was there! I saw what the evil did to him and I promise you, this is not him! Please, believe me!”

Pidge felt as if she might start crying at any moment. She then looked over at the other three, expecting them to back her up.

“Well? Guys! You… you have anything to say?!”

There was silence for a moment before Keith sighed, getting up and putting a hand on Pidge’s shoulder.

“Pidge, I think we should believe Shiro.”

“What?! No! Keith!” Pidge objected, pulling away from him, “It’s my father! I know it is!”

“Pidge… maybe it’s for the best…” Lance attempted to add in, “I mean, Shiro hasn’t lied to us and… if he says your father’s gone… I think we should believe him.”

Pidge glared at them all, a horrified and betrayed look on her face, tears spilling from her eyes. It couldn’t be… it wasn’t true. She’d seen him! And she’d show them he was real… if it was the last thing she did.

Without a word, she turned and stomped out of the mobile home, slamming the door behind her as the four guys looked on, Hunk attempting to open the door and go after her before Shiro placed his good hand on his shoulder.

“Let her be alone for a few minutes, Hunk. It’s probably the best thing for her.”

Hunk then relaxed, knowing Shiro was right. He then went and sat down on the couch, which thankfully, had minimal blood on it.

Suddenly, the sound of a motor was heard outside, causing the group to sit up, instantly alert.

“What’s that?” Keith asked, listening out for the sound. It then sounded like a car was speeding away, forcefully. He then looked over at Lance, whose eyes had gone wide.

“Aw… shit. Aw, man! Shit! Shit!” Lance cried, pushing past the others and flinging open the door, running outside, the others following close behind. He then looked to his right to see his car, _his_ blue corolla, speeding away from the trailer park and then, it had hit him.

“Oh, FUCK ME!” he shouted, kicking up dirt.

“What?! What happened?” Shiro asked, approaching him and looking on where the car had sped off to.

“My car, man! My fucking car!” Lance cried, “Pidge stole my goddamn car!”

It then hit Shiro what had happened. Matt had always been stubborn… now it turns out his sister was either more stubborn or just had wild ambition… or both. She had now committed grand theft auto… all because she wanted to see her “dad”. Shiro then realized what he had to do.

“Guys, call your folks. Tell them you’ll be late.” He said, “We’re going after Pidge and we’re going right now.”

 


	6. Daddy's Little Girl

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shiro and the rest of Team Voltron pack up to pursue Pidge after she steals Lance's car in order to get home to investigate a rather untimely homecoming; Allura meets a confidant.

Allura was on her third cup of coffee.

          Ever since the strange incident in the abandoned house that had resulted in Detective Williams getting chopped to bits by a ceiling fan, Allura had hardly slept. The man that had been in that house… something had been horribly wrong with him, there was no doubt… but… what was wrong with him? Had he contracted a strange disease? Had a mental breakdown? Ingested bath salts?

          _“No…”_ thought Allura. People on bath salts didn’t morph into demons… at least, not physically.  As she sipped her coffee, she stared out the window before something made her jump.

          “Something on your mind?”

          Allura turned suddenly, gazing up from her booth at a slender, middle aged yet well rested, beautiful woman with long, brown hair, highlights of white running down and making her hair stand out. She was wearing a casual ladies suit, the buttons to her blazer unfastened and a few blouse buttons undone up by her cleavage. Allura guessed it was one of those business type women who used her gender and sexuality to get what she wanted, and she had no taste in that. But, still, the woman had spoken to her, prompting her to respond,

          “Oh, no. Not really.” Allura lied as the woman sat down opposite her.

          “No, I can tell by your expression.” The woman said, tilting her head quizzically, “You’ve seen something truly horrific, haven’t you? Something that nobody ever dreams of seeing.”

          Allura sighed, looking over at woman. Why was it her business anyway? She didn’t know her!

          “Oh, I’m sorry. Forgot to introduce myself.” The woman said, extending her hand to Allura, “I’m Hazel.”

          “Detective Allura Alfor.” Allura told her.

          “Ooh, detective. Nice.” Hazel said, “I like a strong woman.”

          “Well, that’s nice for you. Thank you.” Allura told her in the most professional way possible.

          “Care if I join you?” asked Hazel before sitting down in the booth opposite Allura, “Thank you. Oh, and I’ll take a coffee. And go ahead and refill hers as well.” She told the waitress as she passed by. Without a word, the waitress went on her way, prompting Hazel to look back at Allura, who seemed confused.

          “Pardon me, but did I say you could join me?”

          “Oh, I knew you wouldn’t mind. After all, nobody wants to be alone after seeing something akin to what you saw just last night.

          Allura froze.

          “How do you-”

          “I know a lot of things, detective. And I also know that, not too far from here, something else is happening. Something that is directly related to what you saw last night.”

          Allura gaped at her as the waitress brought them the coffee, Hazel thanking her as she began to mix sugar into her cup.

          “How do you know about last night? Were you there?!”

          “Relax, detective. I wasn’t there, I assure you. But, it is quite a story. Your partner chopped to pieces by a ceiling fan? Truly horrific. As is what’s happening right about now.” Hazel told her as she sipped her piping hot coffee, not even flinching.

          Allura stared at her for the longest time, Hazel not breaking eye contact as she gave her a sly grin. Suddenly, Allura jumped at the sound of her phone ringing. She then unclipped it from her belt and answered.

          “Alfor.”

          “Alfor, there’s been an incident at a nearby trailer park, behind the Big Deals department store.”

          Allura’s heart skipped a beat as she looked over at Hazel, who was still smirking as if to say “I was right, now you owe me”.

          “What sort of incident?”

          “You’ll see when you get here. Just… come as soon as possible, all right?”

          “All right. I’ll be there soon.”

          She then hung up as Hazel finished the steaming cup of coffee she had, a refreshing exhale escaping her throat.

          “Ahhh, nothing like a good cup of coffee.” She said, getting up and tossing some money down at the table.

          “After you see what’s happened, find me again. I believe that maybe I could help you out.”

          Hazel then turned to leave, Allura starting after her. She couldn’t just leave like this!

          “Wait!”

          “Yes?”

          “How can I find you again? You didn’t give me a number or anything!” Allura pointed out.

          “Oh, you’ll find me. Or I’ll find you, again. One way or the other. We’ll find each other, Detective. Now, you run along. I’ll see you soon.”

          Allura wanted to shudder as Hazel left the diner. She’d sworn that she’d never met someone some eerie… so unnerving. Did she know something? Or was that all just a coincidence?

          Either way, Allura paid her bill and made her way down to the trailer park.

          It was time to get to the bottom of this situation once and for all…

 

                                                

* * *

 

          “Are you sure we’re going the right way?”

          “Yes, Keith, for the fife hundredth millionth time, we are going in the right direction!”

          “That’s not even a real number, Lance.”

          “You’re not a real number, Keith!”

          “Okay, _that_ doesn’t make sense.”

          “ _You_ don’t make sense!”

          “No offense, but will you two shut your mouths for _five minutes_?! These dirt roads are a pain in the ass!”

          Shiro was doing his best to steer his Winnebago down the twisty, dirt roads that led to Pidge’s home and Lance and Keith's childish bickering definitely was not helping. He’d been there before, years ago with Matt and Samuel, Pidge’s father, but honestly, he’d forgotten most of the way over the years. Plus, coming back here brought back some painful memories of Matt and Shiro was a little on edge because of that.

          “Um… Shiro? You okay?” he heard Hunk ask. He looked over at the large boy, who had been sitting in the seat next to him for the duration of the ride while Lance and Keith tried to scrub the blood and brain matter out of the Winnebago’s carpet.

          “Yeah, Hunk. I’m all right.” Shiro sighed, obviously lying. “It’s just… coming back here brings so many memories of Matt back… before the whole cabin thing.”

          “Oh… yeah. I can’t even imagine, man…”

          “I used to come up here on weekends... we'd go camping, him and I. We'd roast marshmallows, get drunk, forget about the pressures of real life for a while...” Shiro explained, reminiscing a bit. He then sighed, looking out at the road.

          “I would've never dreamed that I'd be the one to end his life.” he muttered, chuckling a little. “I guess it's a little poetic. The one you love is the one that kills you because they want to stop you from having such a terrible fate... but, really, that's not how this was.”

          Hunk's eyes shifted nervously as he began ask something before Shiro cut him off.

          “It was more like, 'kill or be killed'. I had to kill him before he killed me.” he explained, “And besides, that thing that I killed was _not_ Matt. Not the Matt I knew. It was nothing but pure, concentrated evil. And if I hadn't done what I'd done, it would've killed me and most likely escaped and killed a whole lot more people.”

          “Whoa...” Hunk mumbled in awe, “Guess that makes you like... something like a hero then, huh?”

          Shiro glanced over at him and gave a dry chuckle, looking back at the road. “Me? A hero? Nah... I'm no hero, Hunk.” he said, turning onto another road, “I'm just a guy who got thrown into a very, very... weird situation.”

          “Well... you're a hero to us.” Hunk said, giving Shiro a large, sweet smile, which made Shiro chuckle, this time more authentic.

          “Thanks, Hunk. Now, will you get those two? We're nearly there.”

          As Hunk did what he'd asked, Shiro turned down the dirt road that led up to the Holt family's home, looking around for anything strange or abnormal. Within a few minutes, he'd parked the Winnebago and turned off the ignition, turning back to Hunk, Keith and Lance, taking the chainsaw and placing it on his wrist again.

          “All right, look guys, chances are whatever's inside Katie's house pretending to be her father is a deadite in disguise, so it's gonna use every trick in the book to get you guys to show it mercy. Long story short: don't do it.”

          “Um, yeah, about that,” Lance butted in, “Pidge isn't gonna be too happy if we run in there chopping at her dead, not-dead dad with a chainsaw. She'll probably flip her shit so... any plan to get around that?”

          “Well, we can try and reason with her first and, if she still doesn't believe us... well, we'll just have to improvise.” said Shiro.

          “Um, another thing, what if he becomes all... deadite-y and comes at us? We don't have any weapons!” Lance pointed out.

          “Sure we do.” said Keith, taking the kitchen knife and giving the shotgun to Hunk, who looked as if he might be sick at the idea of a firearm in his hands.

          “Um, what am I supposed to use?” Lance asked in irritation. Keith thought for a moment before handing him the skillet Pidge had used earlier.

          “Here. Hope you've got a mad swing.”

          “Why can't I use the gun?! I'm clearly the best shot here! And Hunk looks like he's gonna pass out at the thought of even holding it!”

          “Says the person who got thrown across the room from the kickback.” Keith reminded him.

          “I wasn't expecting it!” Lance argued, “Now, come on! Let me use it!”

          “He's right, Keith.” Shiro said, “If he's the best shot, let him use it. We'll need a good shot to get us through this.”

          “Ugh…” groaned Keith, Lance giving him a shit-eating-grin as he passed him the shotgun, which Lance gladly took, sticking his tongue out at Keith and blowing a raspberry.

          “Oh yeah, real mature.” Keith grumbled, rolling his eyes as Lance continued to smile, stroking the stock of the shotgun. “You really wanna give _him_ a firearm? And a powerful one at that?”

          “Don’t be such a crab!” Lance said, “I know how to work these! For example, I already know where the safety is and everything! And how to unload and load it. I’d like to see you try and do it, Keef.”

          “Call me ‘Keef’ again and I’ll feed you to Pidge’s undead not-father.”

          “Cool it, boys.” Shiro called back to them as he stopped the Winnebago in front of Pidge’s home, “And come on. We’ve got work to do.”

 

          Within a few minutes, the four of them were outside, knocking on Pidge’s door, which was then answered by none other than Pidge herself, whose eyes immediately went wide when she saw that they were armed.

          “Guys! What the hell?!”

          “Hiya, Pidge.” Shiro told her, waving with his chainsaw arm, “Mind if we come in?”

          “You are not here to chop my dad’s head off, Shiro.” She said firmly, crossing her arms.

          “No, no we’re not. We’re here to get rid of the deadite that’s _pretending_ to be your dad. There’s a difference.” Shiro said, “May we come in?”

          “Chainsaw off.” Pidge told him, looking over at Lance, “And Lance? Who the fuck gave you a gun?”

          “Hey! Mouth, young lady.” Shiro said, pointing his chainsaw at her authoritatively before he realized what he was doing. His brow upturned in confusion, making him quickly switch hands.

          “Shiro! I thought that was you!”

          Shiro then looked past Pidge to see none other than the smiling face of Samuel Holt, her father. The man who had dies eleven years ago in a cabin in the woods, along with his son, Matthew. Looking healthier than ever.

          “Holy shit.” Shiro mumbled, suddenly feeling Pidge hit him in the chest.

          “Hypocrite.” She muttered as she went and joined her father, who looked over at the group, cordially inviting them in.

          “Come in! Have a seat! We were just having dinner!”

          “Ooh, yummy!” Lance said, rubbing his hands together expectantly, “And _who_ will we be eating tonight?”

          He was then cut off by Pidge punching him hard in the arm as Hunk sniffed the air.

          “Smells like meatloaf. And mashed potatoes. With gravy! Oh, and... carrots, too.”

          As he spoke, Keith raised an eyebrow, his arms crossed in front of his chest. “Hunk, how the hell do you do that?”

          “Dinner!” Pidge's mother called from the kitchen, bringing in a large platter of meatloaf as Samuel brought in the mashed potatoes, “Oh, hello! You must be Katie's... friends!” she said, taking notice of the blood that covered the four young men standing before her.

          “Yes, ma'am! And we've come to save you from certain dea- ouch!” Lance yelped as Pidge whacked him in the sternum, making him cough, “Er... certain... depth. Is... what I said...”

          “Here we go!” Samuel said, bringing in plates for everyone. Shiro raised an eyebrow as he offered him one.

          “Sorry, but we're not hungry.” Shiro said.

          “Of course we are!” Hunk butted in, taking a plate for himself.

          “Hunk, don't eat that.” Shiro told him as he swiped the plate from him, looking over at Mrs. Holt. “Mrs. Holt, Katie, you stay away from it, too.”

          “Shiro...” growled Pidge.

          “Why, why would I do that?” Mrs. Holt asked.

          “Ugh... I guess I can't sugar coat this.” Shiro groaned, “Your husband isn't who you think he is. Lance, pull up the video.”

          Lance then pulled up the video of Shiro dispatching of the old, possessed man.

          “What... what is this?” Mrs. Holt asked, horrified.

          “Nothing, mom! They were just leaving.” Pidge said as she tried to push Shiro away.

          “That's what your husband is going to turn into, Mrs. Holt.”

          “Shiro!” Pidge snapped, “ _Shut the fuck up._ ” she then added in a low toned voice.

          “Pidge, it's true!” Shiro told her, “Your father died years ago! Right in front of me! I was there! I saw it myself! This is _not_ him!”

          “You... you saw him die?” Pidge asked, but just as she had asked the question, a loud, shrill shriek came from her mother. Just like that, all five of them looked over to see Samuel Holt, now in his true, deadite form, white eyes and bared teeth, holding Pidge's mother by the hair.

          “ _Keep away! Her ass is mine, bitch!_ ” Samuel shouted in a distorted voice as Shiro narrowed his eyes.

          “Oh, I don't think so, jerk off.” he muttered, pulling the cord to his chainsaw arm to life as he revved the engine. Samuel's arm then extended above Pidge's mother, his fingernails now long and pointed as a loud, curdling shriek erupted from his throat. Shiro cried out as he swung the chainsaw, chopping off Samuel's arm at the elbow, blood spraying the wall as the arm fell to the floor, earning loud groans from the other boys.

          “Friggin' wicked!” Lance cried out.

          “Disgusting!” shouted Hunk.

          Lance then went over to examine the arm closer when suddenly, it sprang back to life, using it's fingers to run at him, Hunk and Keith as if it were some demented scorpion.

          “Huh? Whoa-ahhh ahh! What the _fuck_ is this _fucking fuckery_?!” Lance cried out as he backed up into Hunk away from the crawling hand.

          “WHAAAGHHH! AHH IT'S ALIVE! _IT'S ALIVE!!_ ” Hunk shouted in panic, pointing as Keith raised his knife.

          “I've got this!”

          Just as he said that, the arm shrieked and leaped forward, it's fingers closing around Keith's throat, earning another horrified scream from Hunk as Keith began choking.

          “Hnnngggg....get... it... off me!!” he cried out, stabbing the arm repeatedly with the knife as it laughed and shrieked, blood spraying from it's stab wounds, Shiro all the while wrestling with the one armed Samuel, flinging Pidge's mother away from them.

          “Get her away from here, Pidge! Go!” Shiro shouted to her.

          “Mom, come on! Quick!” Pidge yelled over the mayhem, leading her mother away.

          “GAHHHHH SOMEONE DO SOMETHING, GODDAMMIT!” Keith shouted as the arm continued choking him, eventually pushing him into a wall, smacking his head against it as it let out long, high pitched giggles.

          “LA-ANCE!” Keith shouted between thuds.

          Lance gaped at him with the shotgun still in hand, “What?! What is it?!” he called back.

          “U-USE THE FU-UCKING GU-UN YOU-U IDIOT!!”

          Lance gasped and looked down at the gun, quickly going over and beginning to fire as Hunk pushed the barrel away.

          “NO!”

          _BLAM!_

          Before Lace knew it, he'd shotgun blasted a hole through the roof, Keith still being choked by the arm, now beginning to turn bright red.

          “Hunk! What the hell, man?!”

          “You're gonna blow his face off, dude!”

          “No I'm not! Let me do this!” Lance assured him, pumping the gun again. “Oh, this is gonna be a real _blast._ ”

          He then aimed and shot the arm at the elbow, the limb then breaking in two, the fingers loosening from Keith's throat and the hand falling to the floor with a scream as Lance blew the fingers off with another blast.

          “Hell yeah! Cold, hard boomstick up your ass, baby!” he shouted, pelvic thrusting the air in triumph. Across the room, Shiro was still wrestling with Samuel, who eventually threw him into the wall, quickly setting his sights on the boys.

          “Oh boy, creepy demon dad, coming right for us!” Hunk cried.

          “Aw, shit sticks, I'm out of shells!” Lance realized, “Well, that's it. We're toast.”

          “Oh, bullshit! You'd better club him in the head or some shit, ass wipe!” Keith snapped.

          “Keith, we're about to be torn to shreds by a demon dude, could you _not_ call me names right now?!”

          “ _I'll swallow your filthy little souls!!_ ” howled Samuel.

          “Okay, what's the deal with you things and swallowing shit?” Lance asked, “Maybe you can swallow a dick and choke on it!”

          Samuel growled, pointing a long, crooked nail on his good hand at Lance, “ _You first!_ ”

          As he made a grab from Lance, his head was quickly separated from his body, spinning off his torso and onto the floor. Before the boys knew it, they watched Shiro's chainsaw blade cut through Samuel's torso like it was the tough piece of turkey at a Thanksgiving dinner, blood spraying them once more as Shiro finished, the two halves of what used to be the demonic Samuel Holt falling to the floor as the boys looked at Shiro in awe.

          “What? He turned his back.” Shiro pointed out. “Thought it was about time he _split_.”

          The boys continued to stare, Keith raising an eyebrow, a look of disgust on his face, Hunk looking terrified and Lance immediately guffawing, doubling over from laughter.

          “HA! You made a funny! Ha, ha, ha! Oh... oh my God. Yes. YES.”

          “All right, all right, calm it down, weirdo.” Keith told him, grabbing his shoulder in an attempt to calm him down.

          “Where's Pidge?” Shiro asked.

          “We're here.” Pidge's voice rang out as she stepped out of a bedroom, “I told my mother to stay in there. I figured she didn't want to see this.”

          “You're probably right.” Shiro said, looking down at Samuel's body. “All right, we need to go bury this. That's the only way to make sure it stays dead. Dismember, and bury. Those are the rules, according to the book. So, come on. Let's get to work.”

                                                          

* * *

 

          Across town in the trailer park, police sirens blared and investigators roamed the premises like vultures. Allura had made good time, meeting her commander there.

          “Ah, Alfor. Good to see you.” he said, “I have a case for you. Seems to match up with that one that cost you your partner.”

          “Sir?” Allura asked, “How do you know they're connected? For sure?”

          “The victim here was found dismembered, his head separated from the rest of him, his eyes clouded white. Similar to the one who's head you blew off. What we found left of his head showed the same features. Leathered skin, white eyes, jagged teeth. That sort of thing.”

          “I see...” Allura said, looking over at the body, which was covered by a white sheet. “Do we have any leads?”

          “We've done some asking around and, apparently, a mobile home that is usually parked here packed up and left earlier today and this man was found nearby.”

          “Any idea as to who owns the mobile home?”

          “Haven't got a name so far, but I do have a description. Our sketch artist has been working on a rendering. We also managed to talk to a middle aged woman who lives across the way and said she saw four young kids, appear to be in their late teens, come to this very mobile home where our suspect is believed to live just a few minutes before the incident.”

          Allura thought that over, looking over at her supervisor, “Do you have the preliminary sketch?”

          “Yes, here.” he said, handing her a sketch of what appeared to be a Japanese man. “Our witness says he's around six feet tall, broad, muscled, built well. Has short black hair with the exception of a portion that leads to his bangs. That section is stark white. He has a large scar across the bridge of his nose and quote, 'Looks as if he wears eyeliner'. But, the most distinguishable part of him would be the fact that he only has one hand, the other one being made out of wood.”

          Allura thought for a few minutes as she looked down at the sketch. Sure, the man was handsome, but she couldn't let that distract her.

          She had to find this man. Fast.

          If this man was really responsible for what had happened in that house where Williams had been chopped to bits, Allura had to know. She had to find him.

          She had to make him pay.


	7. Road Trippin'

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After dealing with a deadite attack at the Holt family home, Shiro and friends decide to set out to find a way to reverse the cure of the evil dead.

“There. Done.”

          After they had dug a hole out in the field of land on Pidge's property, Shiro had constructed a wooden cross out of two sticks and some twine from the Winnebago, marking Samuel's grave. Pidge gave it a skeptical look.

          “You know he was an agnostic, right?”

          “Huh?” Shiro asked, a bit winded as he wiped sweat from his brow.

          “My father. He was agnostic.”

          “What's that?” Lance asked.

          “It means he didn't necessarily believe in God, but he believed that he _could_ exist.” Keith explained, looking at the grave with crossed arms.

          “Well, I'm sure he believes now.” Shiro said, looking at the cross. “Cause I spent a lot of time on that damn thing and I'm leaving it. Think your mom would be kind enough to let us use your bathrooms? Being covered in blood kind of sucks.”

          “Yeah, sure. Come on. All of you.” Pidge said, waving for them all to follow her. She then led them back into the house, going into the room where here mother was, gently taking her by the arm and leading her out.

          “Mom... are you all right?” she asked. Her mother looked around and finally up at Shiro. She then approached him, looking serious.

          “Are you the one who got rid of that... thing?” she asked. Shiro then looked over at the other boys, who shrugged. He turned his gaze back to Mrs. Holt and shrugged as well.

          “Yes. I am. But, please know, Mrs. Holt, that that thing was _not_ your husband, Samuel. I knew him and he was a great-”

          “Thank you.” she said, surprising Shiro by squeezing him into a hug, “Matt would be proud of you, Takashi.”

          Shiro gasped then, turning his eyes down to look at the woman, who gazed back up at him, smiling kindly.

          “Oh, don't think I've forgotten who you are.” she told him, brushing his blood-stained white bangs from his forehead. “You're just as handsome now as you were years ago.”

          Shiro smiled, taking her hand and politely kissing it. “Thank you, Mrs. Holt.”

          “I want to help you.”

          Everyone turned and looked over at Pidge, who had uttered the phrase, stepping towards Shiro.

          “Pidge, I can't let you do that.” Shiro said, “You were already in danger one too many times today and I-”

          “Shiro, those things have cause as much pain in my life as yours. I'm helping you.” she insisted, “And there's no way you'll stop me. Mom, you stay out of this one. I'm making my own decision here. And I want to go after those things that killed Dad. And Matt...”

          “Pidge, no. No way. I'm not losing you the way I lost your father and brother!” Shiro said firmly.

          “Goddamn, you are so stubborn!” Pidge said, “Shiro! I won't _let_ them get hold of me! And I'll have you guys! If we stick together, we can beat this damn thing!”

          “She is right, y'know.” Lance pointed out, “I just gotta show this here video to my folks and then bam, I'll be with you, too.”

          “And me.” Keith said, “My foster family won't care one way or the other. And I'm 18, which means I can make my own decisions. And I'm deciding to stick with you.”

          “Me, too.” Hunk piped up, “These things may scare the living crap out of me, but if I can help you guys put it all back where it belongs and save all those innocent people it hurts, then I'll be as brave as I can.”

          “See? You're stuck with us, Shiro. Like it or not.” Pidge said, “So you'd better make room in that Winnebago. Cause we're moving in.”

          Shiro looked at them all, bewildered before looking at Mrs. Holt. “Mrs. Holt... what do you say?”

          Pidge's mother sighed, looking over at her daughter and smiling before hugging her, running her fingers through Pidge's long, sandy brown hair.

          “Your father would be so proud of you, Katie... and Matt, as well. I know they'd love to see the strong, independent young woman you've become. And... I think you should go with them.”

          “What?!” Shiro objected.

          “Yes. I know your father would want you to make things right. For him, for Matt and... for you, Katie. So... as long as you promise to call me every day just to let me know you're okay then... then, you go with them.”

          Pidge smiled, hugging her mother again, “I promise, Mom. I'll put a stop to this.”

          “I know you will my sweet girl.” her mother said, kissing her forehead. “Now, come along. I think you and your friends might want to get cleaned up before you go out on your way.”

                                                          

* * *

 

          Later on, after everyone had showered, Lance and Keith looked down at the clothes they'd been given to wear, shocked as to how well they fit.

          “Wow. Who knew your brother wore the same size as me!” Lance said, “And had such a killer sense of style! These duds are amazing!”

          “Yeah, who knew you and _I_ wore the same size.” Keith said, “Especially with those beanpole legs and skinny ass of yours.”

          “Hey, don't knock the legs, Keithy. And my ass is perfectly round and full, thank you.” Lance told him, “Besides, I can fit into Matt's old skinny jeans, can't I?”

          “Mm-hmm.” Keith said, rolling his eyes as Lance propped up his leg on the couch, mentally telling himself not to look at it, finding it hard to resist though...

          “Yeah, easy for you guys to say.” Hunk complained, a towell wrapped around his waist, “Nobody here wears a double XL! So I have to wait!”

          “Yeah, sorry big guy.” Lance said, patting Hunk's belly, “At least we get to see how cute your pudgy belly is.”

          “Lance, don't make me pound you.” Hunk said dryly as he went and sat down. As their clothes washed, they'd managed to clean up the blood as well as fix some frozen pizzas from the refrigerator to eat. They'd come up with a plan to drop by Lance and Hunk's places and convince their parents of the impending deadite problem which, due to Lance's video footage, shouldn't be too difficult not to mention that Lance was very smooth when it came to parents.

          “Hunk, we both know you'd never do that you big, sweet teddy bear.” Lance said, ruffling Hunk's hair.

          “Keep testing me, Lance.” Hunk said in a lighthearted tone, “Maybe that skinny torso of yours will end up under my butt as a new seat in the Winnebago.”

          Lance narrowed his eyes as Keith let out a dry laugh. “Good one, big man.” He said, slapping five with Hunk.

          Lance then went and got a soda from the fridge, grumbling under his breath about Keith and Hunk as he heard Shiro say from behind him.

          “’Scuse me, Lance. Gonna grab a bottle of water.”

          “Oh, okay. Sorry, man.” Lance said, moving out of the way. Although, as he moved, he suddenly gasped in awe, grateful there was a counter for him to sit his soda on before he dropped it. As he looked over at the fridge, he saw what might just be the most perfect specimen of a man bending over to look inside, his muscles still a bit wet from condensation from the shower, his hair messy from being toweled dry, his soft yet firm and perfect buttocks being hugged snugly by the pair of black briefs that served as his only article of clothing. Shiro was out here. In his undies. And he was hot as hell.

          Trying not to draw too much attention, Lance stumbled for his phone, fishing it from his pocket to document this heavenly image until the end of time itself, inconspicuously aiming the camera to his phone at Shiro’s perfect, round bum as he drummed his fingers on the fridge, muttering a song under his breath as he looked for some water, finally finding some. Shiro then got up, some of the the fabric of his briefs getting stuck in his crack, which he then pulled out, smoothing out the underwear before turning towards Lance as he opened his water. As he turned around, Lance came under even more an assault. He saw then that Shiro not only had eight-pack, rock solid abs, but that he was very well endowed, the stretchy fabric of his black briefs snugly hugging his manly parts as he drank the water, Lance nearly ready to fall over from a heart attack as he kept his phone inconspicuously pointed at Shiro as he felt something tremor in his loins. Well, so much for keeping his gay thoughts at bay.

          Shiro, all the while innocently drinking his water, adjusted the elastic in his briefs, breathing a refreshed sigh of relief at the water. It was then he noticed Lance in front of him, looking like a drooling schoolgirl.

          “Lance? You okay?” he asked, moving towards Lance a bit, the bulge in his underwear twitching a bit as he moved towards him, making Lance feel something of his own twitch.

          “He’s fine.” Pidge said as she came in, wearing jeans and a sports bra, “What’s wrong, Lance? Never seen a hot guy in his tighty-whitites before?”

          “Hey! I’ll have you know, young lady, that these most definitely are _not_ tighty-whities.” Shiro told her, snapping his waistband before drinking his water, his crotch now inches away from Lance, who’d begun to sweat nervously, Shiro completely oblivious.

          “Oh come on, Shiro. Just cause they’re not white doesn’t mean they aren’t tighty-whities” Pidge pointed out.

          “The preferred term is _briefs_ , Pidge. And also, these aren’t white, Little Miss Smarty Pants.”

          “Mm-hmm, mm-hmm. Number one choice of dad underwear across the world. Nice choice, Shiro. Come on, _my_ dad didn’t even wear those and he was one of the biggest nerds ever!”

          “Hey, I can’t help what I like, Pidge. These happen to be _very_ comfortable. And, best of all, they keep everything intact.”

          “Gross.” Pidge scowled, making a face.

          “Your brother always like them.”

          “Ew!” Pidge shrieked, hitting Shiro in the arm, “Gross! I don’t wanna hear about what turned my brother on! Conversation over!”

          “Mm-hmm.” Grinned Shiro, resting a hand on his waistband, his thumb resting just inside. Lance kept his phone trained on him, not saying anything as Shiro turned around, his back and perfect ass now facing Lance as he spoke to Keith and Hunk, Keith looking just about as shocked as Lance, maybe even more if that was possible.

          “What do you think guys? Good underwear choice?”

          “Dude, wear what you want!” Hunk called over his shoulder, “I’m a boxer guy myself but, hey, if you’ve got it, why not show it? And you’ve clearly got it, according to Keith and Lance’s expressions right about now. Huh, Keith?”

          Keith didn’t say a thing, but just stared gaping at Shiro as Hunk waved a hand in front of his face.

          “Er… Keith? Hell-ooo?” Hunk asked, whistling at Keith, who was completely zoned out. “Um, I think Keith.exe has stopped working.”

          “Shiro, for the love of God, go put some pants on!” Pidge said, “You broke our two gay boys!”

          “My clothes are in the dryer!” Shiro told her, “I just got these out of the Winnebago!”

          “Well, go get some more clothes out of the Winnebago you dingus! You live there!” Pidge told him, shooing him out of the kitchen, “Go on! Out! Wear pants in my kitchen!”

          “All right, all right!” Shiro chuckled, walking out of the kitchen, Lance following close behind as to not miss a moment of Shiro’s perfectly toned bum exiting the room, almost as if he were hypnotized. “I’m going, I’m going.”

          Lance followed after Shiro until he made his way into the bathroom, closing the door behind him, causing Lance to immediately pout as he turned off his camera.

          “Damn it…” he swore under his breath as he returned the phone to his pocket before looking over to see Pidge smirking, her hip resting against the wall and her arms crossed. “W-what?!”

          “Lance, did you just candid camera videotape Shiro in his little black undies?”

          “No!”

          “Mm-hmm.” She mused, “Keith, pick your jaw up off the floor. Looks like you and Lance have something to bond about now.”

          Lance then furrowed his brow, his cheeks red from embarrassment as he stomped over and got his soda, sitting next to Keith and Hunk on the couch.

          “…did you really get him on tape?” Keith asked, almost in a hoarse whisper.

          “Ugh… yes. I did. I’ve been waiting _weeks_ to see him like that, honestly. All those times he nearly caught me staring at that butt of his at work…” Lance admitted, “Hey, the guy’s hot! Not even gonna lie! And I’m bi so I can say that!”

          “Please let me watch it.” Keith mumbled as Hunk crossed his arms and rolled his eyes, smirking.

          “You two are too much.”

          “Leave us alone! We found something to bond over!” Lance protested as he pulled out his phone and began the video, Hunk shaking his head all the while.

                                                         

* * *

 

          A while later, the group had packed up the Winnebago, Pidge managing to pack herself a bag before bidding her mother goodbye. She’d even, semi-reluctantly, given Lance his car back that she’d stolen so they could head to their next destination, which was Lance and Hunk’s parents homes. Both boys came from rather large, loving families and it hadn’t been too easy to convince them. But, after a lot of talking, some proof with Lance’s footage of deadites, their parents had finally (reluctantly) agreed, Lance convincing his parents that he wasn’t doing this for himself, but for them and his brothers and sisters, which was true. Lance couldn’t bear the thought of something happening to them… and above all, he’d do anything for them. Even leave to fight scary demon people.

          Hunk’s parents needed a bit more convincing. Or, rather his mother did. After being shown the video, his father was all for him going out and saving the world, but his mother was a different story. She did not want her “sweet little teddy bear” in any sort of danger. After Shiro had managed to work his magic, along with Hunk’s father, Hunk had been allowed to go, his mother asking him repeatedly if he’d packed clean underwear. The group had even stopped so Keith could pack himself a bag, not even bothering to tell his foster parents because he knew they wouldn’t care one way or the other.

          Soon, all five were on the road in Shiro’s Winnebago, Shiro at the wheel as the others sat in the back.

          “All right, if we’re all going to be living together in here, there’s gonna be some rules, all right? Rule #1:”

          “No mullets.”

          “No, Lance. Leave Keith’s haircut alone. That’s actually the first rule. If we’re going to all live in here, we’re going to respect each other and each other’s things, is that clear?

          “Jeez, Dad much?” Lance asked, “Let’s try and have _some_ fun at least.”

          “ _Lance._ ”

          “Okay, okay. Don’t get your tighty-whities in a twist.”

          “They’re _NOT_ tighty-whities!” Shiro insisted, blushing much to the delight of the four giggling younger people he had along with him. “If you want me to have tighty-whities, I’ll get some and wear them non-stop around here!”

          “Oh no, what a threat that is.” Said Keith in a dry voice, “You’re forgetting, Hunk’s the only straight guy here, and you’re hot. We’d practically be _begging_ you to do that.”

          “Ugh…” grumbled Shiro, rolling his eyes, “All right, rule number two: No-”

          “No stinking up the toilet room.” Lance said, “I mean it, absolutely not. Somebody needs to take a shit? We’re stopping. I am not riding in Shit-abago.”

          Shiro frowned at that. “Not exactly my next rule, but that is a good one and we’ll keep it.”

          “Thought so. You’re welcome.” Lance said, resting his head back against his hands. “So, where are we going anyway?”

          “There’s a bookstore we need to go to.” Shiro said, “It’s an occult bookstore that sells things dealing with anything from the beyond.”

          “Ooh, sounds very _X-Files_.” Lance said.

          “Think more _American Horror Story_.” Shiro corrected, “I tracked the _Necronomicon_ down to there a few months ago after a girl I brought back here for company stole it to sell for money.”

          “Ooh, a girl. You do anything?” Lance teased, “What’d she think of your tighty-whities?”

          “Lance, I swear to God, I will throw you out of this moving Winnebago.” Shiro threatened, “It was the same circumstances as before with the guy who ended up reading from the book. I brought her here because I wanted someone to talk to. Then I found out that she was nothing but a thief. Took me a while to find the book, but I did. She'd managed to get it all the way to Louisiana so you can imagine how frustrating that was. Anyway, I purchased it and brought it back here so it wouldn’t fall into the wrong hands.”

          “And… we’re going to this bookstore… why?” Pidge asked, “Are you gonna give it back or something?”

          “Of course not!” Shiro said, “I want to see if the owner has any idea on what we could do to reverse the curse and put the evil dead back where it belongs.”

          “And… what if he doesn’t?” Hunk asked curiously.

          “Well…” Shiro said, sighing, “I guess we’ll have to improvise.”

          “Yeah, let’s hope we don’t have to.” Lance said, “Last time we improvised, Keith almost got choked to death by a severed arm.”

          “Amen to that.” Added Keith, bumping fists with Lance. As he did that, he noticed that, maybe, when Lance wasn’t acting like an annoying jerk off, he could actually be kind of cool.

          “We’ll work on that.” Shiro said, “But for now, let’s just press on until we get there.”

          “Why don’t we sing some showtunes? Help brighten the mood?” Lance suggested.

          “No, Lance.” Said Keith, “No showtunes.”

          “Oh, come on! Join in! _I like to be in America! Okay by me in America! Everything free in… A… Mer… I… Ca…._ ” he sang, slowly slowing down as he realized everyone was staring at him.

          “Heh… okay. We’ll put a pin in that. But one thing’s for sure, you guys have _got_ to lighten up!


	8. Memoriam

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Allura finds a new ally; Shiro and Katie share a bonding moment.

The police had just begun to clear away as Allura made her way to her car. She knew who she was after now… it was just a matter of finding him that was the problem. He’d gone from the trailer park… and to who knows where. She’d have to work all night to track him…

“Rough night?”

Allura jumped at the sound of Hazel’s voice, the woman leaning on the hood of her car, filing her nails.

“Good Lord. Where did you come from?” she asked, “How’d you know I was-”

“So, you’re after someone now, yes? Suspect in this grisly murder?” Hazel asked. “Somebody named… Takashi Shirogane?”

Allura froze, a smile spreading across Hazel’s lips. How did she know all of this?

“All right, madam, how do you know all of these things?” Allura asked, “Its classified information.”

“Nothing’s classified when it comes to Takashi Shirogane.” Hazel said, “Now, I have a proposition for you.”

Allura raised a skeptical eyebrow. “Proposition?”

“Yes ma’am, indeed. What if I told you I could help you find Takashi Shirogane?”

“Wh-what?” Allura asked, “Do you… do you know something about him?!”

“Just that he left this laying around.” Hazel said as she turned, pulling something from behind her back. Allura then inched closer, seeing that whatever Hazel had was wrapped up in a large cloth, which she then took the corners away from, revealing something that shocked Allura, its stench causing her to bring a hand to her nose and mouth, a gasp escaping her throat.

“His other hand.” Said Hazel as she held what used to be the right hand of Takashi Shirogane, the hand still twitching, bloodied, the skin discolored from decay. “He cut it off eleven years ago after it became infected with evil. However, he forgot he left it lying around in the cabin he was in. Along with this.”

She then held out a large, smooth dagger, looking it up and down. “The Kandarian dagger.” She said, “The hilt is made from the femur of a human being. The ancient Sumerians believed it was the only weapon that could truly defeat demonic forces.”

“Wait, _demonic forces_? Are you mental?!” Allura asked, “There’s no such thing! This Takashi Shirogane is a murderer and-”

“And he might be the only hope that the human race has left.” Hazel finished, “Or, he is the conduit to all of this activity and needs to be dealt with accordingly.”

Allura stared at her. What on Earth did she mean by that?

“What are you getting at, lady?”

“Eleven years ago, Takashi Shirogane, Matthew Holt, Samuel Holt and two of their colleagues went to an old cabin in the woods due to the fact that Samuel Holt, who was somewhat of a historian, found a book in his travels to Egypt. The book he found was the infamous Sumerian Book of the Dead, the _Naturon Demonto_ or, as it’s more widely known, the _Necronomicon Ex-Mortis_. The book was used by ancient Sumerian sorcerers and witches to resurrect the demonic spirits of the dead and of hell itself. Due to one of them reading passages from the book aloud, the evil inside was released, killing everyone in that cabin with the exception of Takashi Shirogane, who now has the book and, by the looks of it, fucked up yet again and released the evil out onto the world.”

Allura could hardly believe it. But… it did seem to all make sense… and there was an undead, twitching decayed hand in front of her…

“This… evil,” she asked, “Can it… possess the living?”

“That is its primary goal.” Explained Hazel, “Due to the fact that the evil has no known body, it must possess living hosts in order to achieve its true goals. And that is what killed your partner that night in the abandoned house.”

Allura thought back to that night… Poor Williams… how the man who had killed him looked… almost as if he’d jumped out of a horror film.

She then turned back to Hazel and sighed, “So, you believe Shirogane is the key to stopping all of this?”

“I know he is, detective.” Said Hazel.

“But, how do you know all of this?”

“Because my brother was in that house. The night the book was read. Along with the others. He was constantly keeping me informed of how things were going. And Shirogane told the story when he returned. Although, nobody believed him. Except for me. And now… I need to find him. So... think I could help you?”

Allura looked down at the twitching hand with unease. What did the hand have to do with it?

“So... how are you planning on finding him?”

Hazel smiled and looked down at the hand, turning slightly to the right. “Show me where I can find your owner, sweet baby.” she cooed at the hand that then, instead of twitching, began to move all on it's own... it's index finger jutting out and pointing straight ahead, a small, barely audible whining noise radiating from it.

“Oh my God...” mumbled Allura, looking over at Hazel, who still had the same grin on her face.

“So, I'll ride shotgun?”

* * *

 

“I have to pee.”

“Lance, there's a bathroom in here.”

“I don't wanna pee in there! Then it'll sit and get all gross!”

“Yeah, I kinda have to go again, too.”

“Hunk, you went half an hour ago!”

“I'm sorry! The soda went right through me!”

Driving four teenagers around was beginning to get to Shiro. He must have forgotten what it was like to be a teenager... either that or he was just always mature for his age. Either way, between Lance and Keith's incessant bickering over who took up more room on the couch and Hunk's absurdly loud chewing, Pidge proved to be the most tolerable one. Ever since they'd left her home, she'd sat in the back in Shiro's room, on his bed, listening to her music and reading.

Shiro thought about how hard it must be on her... having lost her father all over again. Well, in a way... actually finding out what happened to him... and yet he still hadn't told her about Matt... about what he'd done to him. What he had to do... and it was eating away at him.

“Hey... guys?” Shiro asked, “If I do stop to get us a bite to eat and a bathroom break, do one of you mind driving? I'm starting to get a headache. And I need a break.”

“Sure. I'll do it.” Keith began before Lance made a loud and rather obnoxious honking sound.

“Nah-ah! I don't think so!” he interjected, “You don't know the first thing about driving a Winnebago!”

“Oh, and you do?” Keith asked, crossing his arms.

“It just so happens, I do.” Lance said, “I mean, have you seen the size of my family? We go camping all the time! I've known how to drive one of these things before I knew how to drive an actual car!”

“Keith, if he's more experienced, you'd better let him do it.” Shiro said, settling it.

“...fine.” Keith said, deciding to respect Shiro's wishes. “But... are you okay? Really?”

“Y-yeah. I'm fine, Keith. Why?”

“Just cause... cause I... well...” Keith said, his cheeks tinting red.

“Exit!!”

Keith breathed a sigh of relief as Hunk pointed out the exit. Since they'd begun this journey, Keith had been impressed with everything Shiro had done... his leadership skills, the way he swung around his chainsaw arm like it was absolutely nothing, how kind and understanding he was, his cute little black underwear... just everything about Shiro seemed... perfect. And it was causing Keith to be a bit at war with himself. Truly, he could never ask Shiro about this... he was 18 and Shiro was... well... 32. It just wouldn't be right...

“Keith? You okay?”

Keith suddenly jumped, looking over at Lance, who surprisingly looked concerned, “You look like you zoned out. Like maybe you were gonna puke or something. You feel okay?”

“Oh... um... yeah. I'm... I'm fine.” Keith told him as he went and sat on the opposite couch, sticking in his earbuds and crossing his arms over his chest as he laid down.

Lance furrowed his brow at Keith's behavior. What was eating him? One minute ago he was all moody like normal, now it looked as if he'd eaten something bad and was holding back his vomit.

“Yeesh... what's up with him?” Lance asked.

“Oh, easy.” Hunk said, “He's totally into you.”

Lance McClain had never blushed so hard in his life.

***

Soon, Shiro had pulled off at the exit, allowing everyone to stop and get food and use the bathroom, the group eventually deciding on McDonalds over Burger King. As they made their way back to the Winnebago, Lance finished up his fries and McChicken sandwich before running up to Shiro to ask him about driving.

“So, how do I know where I’m going? Is there a GPS?”

“Yeah, it’s already programmed inside. Just follow whatever directions it tells you.

“All right, great. Now um… where are we going again, exactly?” Lance asked. It had been about three hours since they’d departed from Jacksonville, where they’d all been living and since then, Shiro had been driving west.

“New Orleans. The center of everything spooky.” Shiro said, “Whoever had the book last had sold it to the bookstore way down in Louisiana just to make a quick buck. Apparently it was the only occult bookstore who was willing to pay the most.”

“So, Nawlins it is.” Lance said, “All right, well, go get some rest. I’ve got everything under control up here.”

“Glad to hear that. Because Keith’s going to be up here with you.”

Lance froze before sighing and looking up at Shiro. “Keith? Shiro, why?? All he’s gonna do is bitch and moan about my driving!”

“I won’t just as long as you don’t drive like a lunatic.” Keith said as he took a seat beside Lance.

“Ugh… fine. But since I’m driving, _I_ pick the music.”

“I thought the passenger got to choose it.” Keith pointed out.

“Nope. Not at all.” Lance said, “Driver does. That’s the rule. Besides, we all know you’d play gothy scene kid music and I’m totally not about that life.”

“Not entirely true.” Keith said, pulling out his phone, “I’ve got some Stones on here.”

Lance raised an eyebrow as he started up the Winnebago. Stones? Which ones?

“We talking Rolling Stones or Queens of the Stone Age?”

“Lance.” Keith deadpanned, giving him a blank stare, “Seriously. Come on. Which Stones do you think?”

“I guess the Rolling ones.”

“Yeah, you’d be right.” Keith said as he plugged his phone in, taking advantage of the fact that Lance was pulling the Winnebago out of the parking lot and out onto the road now. As Lance pulled out onto the main road, he heard the familiar sound of The Rolling Stones’ _Sympathy for the Devil_ begin to play over the speakers, causing him to give Keith a coy glance, Keith doing the same for him.

“You’re okay, Kogane.” Lance said, trying his best to hide the fact that he was still curious about whether Keith was into him or not…

***

In the back of the Winnebago, Shiro came into his room, finding Pidge still on the bed, listening to her music, her food from McDonalds eaten and her trash sitting on the nightstand.

“Hey, Katie.” He said as he sat down on the bed across from her. Her glasses were off, resting next to the bag of McDonalds trash. Pidge then looked up to see him, not taking the time to sit up or anything.

“Hey, Shiro.” She replied quietly, “What’s up?”

“Just wanted to see how you were doing. You’ve been pretty quiet since we left your place.”

“Yeah… I’m okay.” Pidge said, biting her lip, “It’s just that… it’s not every day that you have to let the father you lost before get killed all over again because some asshole evil demon possessed him.”

“Yeah, I can… understand why.” Shiro mumbled, looking away and feeling a bit guilty.

“I mean… it’s not enough that I didn’t get to say goodbye the first time… to him… or to Matt…”

Pidge then rested her head on her knees, sighing as she tried her hardest to keep from crying. Shiro was even finding it hard to keep _his_ eyes dry. Part of him wanted to tell her about Matt… to clear everything up… to be perfectly honest with her. But the other part of him just wanted to comfort her… to gloss over it and never tell her at all.

But he had to. He knew she’d only find out eventually. He had to be honest with her… no matter how badly it hurt them.

“Um… Pidge?” he said, “Could I… could I tell you something? About Matt?”

Pidge looked over at him, instantly concerned. “Um… yeah. Sure, Shiro. What about him?”

Shiro sighed. What way could he break it to her? Maybe just going right for it would be the best… like ripping off a band aid.

“Back eleven years ago, when we found and read from the book… the evil possessed him.” Shiro said, “The evil made him…like your father… like he was earlier. Just nothing but a mindless, vulgar demon that was hungry for souls… not the sweet, sensitive man I knew.”

Talking about it now was causing his voice to be a bit shaky, but he knew this was for the best.

“And… and he attacked me, Pidge… he… he tried to kill me so… so I… I had to…”

He looked over at Pidge, who seemed to know where he was going, judging by the tears that began to roll down her face.

“You killed him…”

The words cut Shiro like knife, causing him to finally break, tears running from his eyes.

“Yes… Pidge. I… I did. I-I’m sorry… I’m so, so sorry. I… I wish that I could’ve saved him… but I didn’t…”

As Shiro began to cry alongside her, Pidge was surprised. A big, tough guy like Shiro? Crying? She couldn’t believe it…

She then grabbed hold of his hand, looking over at him before wrapping her arms around his neck in a large hug.

“You did, Shiro… you did save him.” She said into his shoulder, “You set him free… along with my father. And I miss them more than anything… but I know, without you, they would’ve hurt so many other people… you didn’t kill them, Shiro… the evil did. And _that’s_ why I’m here. Helping _you_. Because I don’t want the evil to tear apart another family like it tore mine apart. So… thank you, Shiro. Thank you, for saving my father and brother from that evil… I know that they’d be proud of you. Especially Matt.”

Shiro sniffed, wiping his eyes as he hugged Pidge back, realizing that she was grateful… that she wasn’t angry at all.

“Y-you’re welcome.” He told her.

Pidge then let go of Shiro, wiping at his eyes with her napkin from McDonalds.

“Now, stop all those crocodile tears. You’re our big, strong leader! No time for all that, okay?”

Shiro smiled, chuckling a little, “Oh, yeah… That’s right. Gotta be strong for you kids.”

“Well, yeah, there is that.” Pidge said, “And there’s also the fact that your eyeliner’s running.”

“What?!”

Pidge giggled at that, giving Shiro a playful shove, “Relax, wingtips. I’m just joking.”

Shiro breathed a sigh of relief, smiling a little as Pidge smiled back. Suddenly, she reminded him so much of Matt... and it brought a sense of comfort to him.

“You know, you look like him.” Shiro said, “Your brother. Your eyes... your nose. You've even got his smile.”

Pidge grinned, giggling a little, “Yeah. My mom would always say that...” and then suddenly, a more painful memory filled her mind. “Back when I was fourteen I cut my hair short similar to his. For weeks, my mother would start crying when she saw me... because just for a moment, she thought that... she thought her son had come back to her.”

Pidge then took off her glasses and rubbed at her eyes as tears began to fall again, “And I... I couldn't stand to look at myself in the mirror... because all I saw was Matt...”

Shiro sighed and wrapped his arms around her, allowing Pidge to tuck her head up under his chin, the petite girl curling up in his lap as he held her protectively, almost like a child. Gently shushing her, Shiro ran his fingers through her hair as she cred into his shoulder.

“It's okay to miss him, Pidge... I miss him, too.”

Pidge sniffled, using the sleeve of her sweatshirt to wipe her nose as she continued to hug Shiro.

“...did you love him?”

Shiro thought for a moment... sure, he had cared a lot about Matt... they'd been together for a year and a half before the incident had happened... he'd even considered asking him to marry him... so he'd never have to let him go. So he could be with him and his wonderful family forever, so he could be there to watch six year old Katie grow up into the beautiful young woman that she was. To listen to Samuel's terrible Dad jokes around the dinner table, laughing with Matt and planting kisses on his cheek. To be there and hold him as he drifted off to sleep and to be there to gently kiss him awake.

But he wouldn't have that now... the deadites had stolen him away forever... and Shiro had had to do the unthinkable...

“Yes, Katie...” Shiro said, “I loved him more than I ever loved another person. I... I would've died for him.”

The two remained that way for a while, Katie eventually falling off to sleep, Shiro still holding her against his chest, happy memories of him and Matt soon lulling him to sleep as well.

 


	9. The Big Easy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shiro and the gang finally make it to New Orleans in search of the shop that sold Shiro the Necronomicon in hopes of ending the curse of the evil dead once and for all.

During the ride, Lance and Keith had begun to bond a little more as well. Mostly due to the fact that Hunk had fallen asleep in the middle of reading a science fiction novel with a bag of chips resting on his pudgy belly which rose and fell peacefully as he softly snored on the couch.

          “Hey, Keith? Would you mind checking on Shiro?” Lance asked when he noticed that Shiro hadn't been back for quite a while after disappearing into his room.

          “Can't you do it?” Keith asked unconsciously as he played with his phone in the passenger seat.

          “I'm _driving._ ”

          “All right, all right, yeesh. You don't have to get so worked up.” Keith muttered as he got up, tying his long hair back into a small ponytail as he went back to Shiro's room, pushing open the door, not even bothering to knock.

          “Hey, Shiro? You okay-”

          Suddenly he stopped, staring at shock in first before smiling a little as he saw big, muscley Shiro cuddled up to Pidge similar to a way a father would hold his daughter after comforting her from a nightmare, both of them fast asleep.

          Carefully, Keith closed the door and went back to Lance, taking a seat and buckling up once again.

          “Well?”

          “You should see it.” Keith said, “Him and Pidge are all cuddled up asleep on his bed.”

          “Aw! That sounds adorable!” Lance whined, “Lucky! You got to see the cuteness!”

          “Well, I mean, we've got Hunk out here and, honestly, he'd pretty adorable if you take away the potato chip crumbs.”

          Lance looked in the rearview back at Hunk, who looked something similar to a large, sleeping teddy bear.

          “Huh. Yeah, he always was adorable when he slept. Nothing but a big teddy bear is all he is.” Lance said, “Wouldn't have him any other way.”

          “Yeah...” Keith said, looking up at the sky as Lance drove, trying to think of something to say... “So... since evidently these things exist... these deadites and all...”

          “Yeah.” Lance replied, trying to get what Keith was saying.

          “It makes me wonder about other things...”

          “What kind of other things?” asked Lance, “Ghosts?”

          “Well, yeah. But also... you... you ever feel like maybe we're... not alone in the universe?”

          “Oh God, Keith, not the aliens thing again.” Lance complained, rolling his eyes.

          “What? It could be true! Explain crop circles!”

          “Elaborate government hoax. Duh.” Lance said, “Much more believable. Unless you watched _Signs_ , which is kind of a dumb alien movie if you ask me.”

          “Huh?! Hey, what's wrong with _Signs_?” Keith asked defensively.

          “Oh, come on, Keith! _Water_? Really? Friggin' _water_?! That's how we defeat them? With something 70% of the world is covered in?! And these are supposed to be 'superior beings' and whatnot? Yeah, superior beings my fine ass.”

          “Name a better alien invasion movie!”

          “Okay. _Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Mars Attacks!, Arrival_...”

          Keith raised an eyebrow, “Wait, what was that last one?” he asked.

          “ _Arrival_. It's more recent.” Lance said, “Basically the princess from _Enchanted_ and Hawkeye from _Avengers_ try and figure out some way to communicate with aliens and then there's a crazy ending and such and it's just really great, okay? I went and saw it at a screening they had at the movie theatre right before all this shit went down.”

          “Huh. Well, I'll have to check it out.” Keith said, actually surprised Lance had good taste in movies.

          “Definitely. Especially if you like alien stuff.”

          The two sat in silence for a few moments, both trying to think of something to say, Keith not wanting to say something too awkward or mean sounding and Lance not wanting to ruin this nice moment that they'd had.

          “Er... so... New Orleans.” Lance brought up, “Ever been there? Apparently it's like the capital of supernatural and weird shit. Ghosts, witches, aliens-”

          “Roswell.”

          “Hwhat?”

          Keith chuckled a little at Lance's response, “Roswell. That's the place with all the alien shit. Also the site of Area 51 where the aliens landed years ago and they covered it all up.”

          Lance lifted an eyebrow as he looked over at Keith. “You really believe that happened?”

          “Yeah!” Keith defended, “They're out there, dude! I mean, have you seen the pyramids? Who made those overnight?!”

          “Um, probably those poor, enslaved Jewish folks?” Lance asked, “The Pharaoh was kind of a dick, remember?”

          “Mm-hmm.” mumbled Keith.

          “But anyways, there's all the supernatural stuff, Keith!” Lance said, “And the food! The food's supposed to be the best in the South! Way better than Jacksonville's food! Shrimp and Grits, Étouffée, Gumbo, Beignets...”

          “Hey, stop it! You're making me hungry!”

          Keith and Lance both jumped from the shock, Lance nearly swerving off the road as they turned to notice a sleepy eyed Hunk between them, scratching his belly.

          “Jesus, Hunk!” cried Lance.

          “You scared the living shit out of us!” finished Keith.

          “Ahh, sorry.” Hunk said, yawning widely as he stretched, “I heard someone mentioning Creole food and I just... I couldn't help myself. Can we get some of that when we get to New Orleans? Please?! Please?!”

          “I'll ask Shiro if we can get some, Hunk.” Lance said, smiling a little, “Not gonna lie, it does sound good. Definitely wouldn't mind trying some myself. How about you, Keith?”

          “Hmm. Yeah, I guess so. As long as we get to check out some of the creepy stuff.” Keith said, “New Orleans is where the LaLaurie house is.”

          “The what?” Hunk asked.

          “Oh! I know that place!” Lance said, “It's that house that lady lived in in _American Horror Story: Coven_! The lady they buried in the ground and made immortal! The one who put the bull head on that guy and made that scary crab lady!”

          “Whoa, whoa, WHAT?!” Hunk asked, suddenly pale with fear, “Honestly, haven't you guys had _enough_ creepy stuff already?! We're dealing with friggin' _possessed_ people, man! The friggin' Book of the Dead!”

          “Yeah! So what's another few ghosts and goblins?” Lance asked, “Hey, maybe we could get like an authentic Ouija board while we're down here!”

          “Dude, that'd be fucking sick!” Keith cheered, slapping five with Lance, Lance not taking his eyes off the road.

          “No way, man! No way! I'm not touching that crap!” Hunk said, crossing his arms firmly in front of his chest.

          “Um, Hunk, you kinda have to. If you don't put your hand on the planchette and are still around while everyone else participates, the spirits find it disrespectful. They might even get angry.” Lance said.

          “Yeah, then the bad shit starts happening.” Keith agreed, playing along, “And then they start throwing shit and flipping the board and pretty soon-”

          “What're you guys talking about?”

          “GAHHHHH! SHIT!” Hunk shouted in fear, his eyes wide as he jumped in fear, hitting his head on the overhead bin. He then turned around to see Shiro standing behind him, looking confused. “Don't DO that, man!!” he complained, lightly punching Shiro in the arm as he stumbled back to the couch, lying down and sighing heavily.

          “All right, what'd you boys do to him?” Shiro asked, leaning on the seats as Lance and Keith looked as innocent as possible.

          “Oh, nothing. Nothing at all.” Lance said.

          “Right, right, didn't do a thing.” Keith agreed, looking over at Lance and winking, Lance suddenly blushing bright red as he looked back at the road.

          “Er... we're nearly at the Louisiana border.” Lance said, quickly changing the subject.

          “Oh, good. Shouldn't be too long now.” Shiro said, “I'll go wake Pidge. Maybe we could grab something to eat before going to the book shop. Maybe some shrimp and grits or something.”

          “Count me in!” Hunk called as Lance continued to drive, glancing over at Keith. As he glanced over, he noticed Keith’s violet eyes staring back at him, which made him blush. Keith had noticed to, quickly averting his eyes as if he’d been caught peeping in a window.

          “Er… so… um… as much as I’d hate to admit… you’re… not too bad, McClain.” Keith eventually said, playing it as cool as he could.

          “Uh… yeah. Same. Same for you, Keith… Keith Colgate.” Lance said as he drove, smirking a little. Maybe Hunk was right… maybe Keith really _was_ into him.

                                                        

* * *

 

          About an hour or so later, Lance steered the Winnebago into the heart of New Orleans, learning that he couldn’t park in the city due to the vehicle being too big. A bit agitated, he parked it elsewhere, forcing everyone to have to board a streetcar in order to get into the city, Shiro carrying a backpack which housed the _Necronomicon_.

          Soon, the group emerged in the heart of New Orleans, succumbing to the sounds, and smells, of the city.

          “Good God!” Pidge cried, holding her nose, “What _is_ that?”

          “All I smell is Gumbo!” Hunk said.

          “Yeah, New Orleans is kind of known for its bad city smell.” Shiro said, “All right, according to the map, the shop is down just off of Bienville Street which is four blocks from where we are now. So, I figured we could go there, drop off the book and get a bit of information.”

          “Um… Shiro?” Hunk asked, placing his hands on his pudgy belly, which suddenly gurgled loudly. “Could some of us maybe… find a nice place to eat dinner?”

          “Yeah! Yeah, that’d be great!” Lance said, “Do a bit of sight-seeing, and find a nice place to eat and then come meet back up with you guys in a bit! How’s that work?”

          Shrio shrugged. It wasn’t a _bad_ suggestion, to be honest. “We could do that, I suppose.”

          “Yes!” Lance, Keith and Hunk all said together.

          “Katie? You wanna go with them?” Shiro asked, looking over at Pidge, who raised an eyebrow.

“Nah. Let them have their bro time. I’ll come with you.” Pidge said.

“All right, you guys go find a place to eat, Pidge and I are going to check out the store. Keep your phones on at all times, don’t go out of the city, don’t go down Bourbon Street and meet Pidge and I at the bookstore on Bienville street in no more than 45 minutes, okay?”

“Yes, Dad. We’ve got it.” Lance told him coyly.

“Don’t call me ‘dad’, Lance.”

“Okay. _Daddy_.”

“Okay, changed my mind. You’re coming with us.”

“Hey! Okay! We’ll meet you down at the scary bookstore!” Hunk said as Lance prepared to say something else, slapping a large hand over his mouth and dragging him off with him and Keith as Lance continued to mumble into Hunk’s hand at Shiro, who chuckled and looked back to Pidge.

“All right. Let’s go.”

                                            

* * *

 

          _Boris’ Books from Beyond and Other Paranormal Paraphernalia_ was not exactly difficult to find. Although there were a lot of creepy stores ranging from witchcraft to voodoo, this one stuck out with a large photo of who Pidge assumed was the owner, Boris. He was a pale man with sunken in eyes, presumably done with makeup and was surrounded by various scary, demonic pairs of eyes.

          “So, I’m willing to bet we’re here to see this Boris guy?” Pidge asked, gesturing up to the sign.

          “Yes. Boris Buchanan. He owns the place.” Shiro said, “Apparently, he’s a bit of a character, but he can help us. So let’s just go on in.”

          As the two of them went inside, Pidge raised an eyebrow at the décor, which looked something that had been modeled after The Crypt Keeper’s lair complete with candles made of prop bones and skulls, ravens and bats suspended from the ceiling, pentacles drawn all over things and little sick-men hanging from the ceiling.

          “Somebody’s got too much time on their hands.” She mused as she stepped forward, running into something firm, yet warm that almost felt like a human. “Hey, who’s running into-”

          But as she looked up, the head of a dead man turned towards her, his eyes glossed over, his throat slashed open wide, his mouth cut into a deep, Glasgow smile.

          “FUCK!” Pidge screeched loud and long, her scream lingering as it rose in pitch as she backed away, up against Shiro, almost pushing him back as if she were afraid that the body might hurt him.

          Suddenly, something strange happened. The dead man began to _laugh_. It wasn’t a deadite laugh, though… it was a healthy, loud, human laugh. The man then leaned forward and pulled a pair of contact lens from his eyes.

          “Gets ‘em every time!” he said as he deposited his contact lens into a small container before peeling off a prosthetic he used for his Glasgow smile, wincing a bit.

          “What the… what the hell?!” complained Pidge, “What the hell was that?! You think that’s funny?!”

          “Funny? It’s priceless!” the man said, peeling off the prosthetic that served as his slashed throat, “Nothing like a good scare!”

          Shiro eyeballed the man closely, finally recognizing who he was. “Sir, are you… um…”

          “Boris?” the man asked as he wiped at his face with a towelette, getting the blood off of him. “Yes, I am. At your service, sir. And who might you two be?”

          “I’m Shiro and this is Pidge.” Explained Shiro, “And we were wondering if you might be able to help us out with something.”

          “Ooh, something spooky, I take it?” Boris said giddily, “Little bit of a séance? Contacting the dead? Maybe a little Urban Legend test?” he asked, picking up a planchette from a nearby Ouija board and looking through the glass oracle, his eye now magnified. “Little game of Ouija?”

          Shiro chuckled, feigning amusement. “No, no sir, nothing like that. As a matter of fact, I do believe it might be bigger than all that.” He said, rummaging in his backpack.

          “Oh, really? Well, that’s a first!” said Boris happily, “Well, let’s see what the damage is-”

          Before he could finish, Shiro plopped the _Necronomicon_ down on the table in front of Boris, it’s dead, fleshy eyes staring at him.

          “Oh… oh my…” mumbled Boris before looking over at Shiro and Pidge, “You two are in pretty damn deep.”

                                                      

* * *

 

          “Well. There it is. The LaLaurie House.”

          “It’s smaller than I thought.”

          “Well duh, Lance it’s in the middle of the French Quarter.”

          “All right, I’ll give someone ten bucks to go touch it.”

          “Dude, are you out of your mind?! Nobody’s gonna do that!”

          As the three boys stared up at possibly one of the most haunted houses in Louisiana, Keith shrugged and stepped forward before Hunk yanked him back.

          “Whugh! Hunk, what’s your problem?” asked Keith.

          “Keith, as your friend, I will _not_ let you go up there.” Hunk said firmly, “We already have enough spooky stuff to worry about! We don’t need a scary Minotaur Head Man chasing us down the French Quarter!”

          “I think that was only for _American Horror Story_ , dude.” Lance said, “And besides, I heard Nicolas Cage, AKA, the craziest actor ever that isn’t a Scientologist, owns the rights to this house and _he_ won’t even go near it!”

          “Wow, what a chickenshit.” Keith said.

          “Can we just get out of here?” Hunk asked in a small voice, “This place is giving me the crawlies.”

          “All right, all right.” Said Lance, “Let’s go. Still gotta get my authentic Ouija board!”

          “Dude, no! Come on, Lance!” Hunk pleaded.

          “Hey, you don’t have to stick around when we do it if you don’t wanna!” Lance said, “I won’t force you.”

          “Whew… thanks.” Hunk breathed, suddenly feeling a bit better. “After that, let’s check out that café we passed earlier. They looked like they had a pretty good menu.

          “Will do, big guy.” Lance smiled, patting Hunk’s belly. “I wonder how Pidge and Shiro are coming along. Think they’ve found out what to do with the book yet?”

          “Hope so.” Keith replied, “These deadites give me a headache.”

                                                        

* * *

 

          “You know, now that you pulled this thing out, I’m starting to remember you.” Boris said as he looked down at the book, “You came in to buy this from me a while back. Because, you said, you didn’t want it ‘falling into the wrong hands’. Huh. Well, isn’t that ironic?”

          “Yeah, yeah, not my fault.” Shiro said, “So, how can we fix this? Put everything back the way it was?”

          “Well, believe it or not, there’s no… _real_ way to simply do that, from the looks of it.” Boris said, flipping through the book.

          “Wait, wait, wait, what?” demanded Pidge, “What do you mean there’s no real way?”

          “I mean I can’t find anything about how I could put it all back!” Boris clarified, “I mean, I just sell these things! I’ve got a bit of a mind of the occult, but usually I just sell the stuff!”

          Shiro narrowed his eyes as he moved towards Boris, his build and height now more intimidating, the scar on the bridge of Shiro’s nose reaching only the top of Boris’s head.

          “You don’t even know how these paranormal things work and yet you sell them?” Shiro asked in a low-tone voice, “That doesn’t sound very safe.”

          “I’m sure there’s some way.” Pidge said, “And I’m sure you’ll think of one. Am I right?”

          Boris nervously looked down at the book, trying to think of some method in which he could appease these people.

          “W-we could… summon something from the book and see if they know what to do.”

          Shiro and Pidge both just stared at him in disbelief as if he were the stupidest person on the planet.

          “What?!” Boris asked.

          “That’s the dumbest idea I’ve ever heard!” Pidge said, “You want to summon something out of _that_?!”

          “Well, we can put it right back!” Boris tried to explain, “And if you want to get rid of the evil then this is a way easier way!”

          “All right, everyone calm down, let’s not get ahead of ourselves here-” Shiro tried to say before his phone suddenly rang out, the ringtone blaring the opening theme to _Cowboy Bebop_ as Shiro looked at Pidge and Boris. “What? It’s a cool show.”

          Without another word, he answered, “Hello?”

          “Hey, Shiro the hero! What’s up?”

          “Hello, Lance.”

          “What’s this bookstore called, Shiro? We’re headed that way! And we found a little café about a block down that serves all the best shit New Orleans has to offer!”

          “Ah, great news, Lance. It’s called _Boris’s Books from Beyond and Other Paranormal Paraphernalia_.” Shiro said, “Pidge and I are meeting with the guy who sold me the book right now and really, I think we’d have better chanced if your help.

          “Say no more! Say no more! We’re on our way. See you in a sec!” Lance said before Shiro heard the phone click off. He then returned the device to his pocket and looked over at Pidge.

          “That was Lance. He said they’ll be here in-”

          Just then, Shiro heard a bell jingle as the door opened, Lance, Keith and Hunk spilling inside, Lance carrying a rectangular box under his arm, Keith with two shopping bags and Hunk with an uneasy expression on his face.

          “Man, why does _everything_ here have to be so mega-creepy?” he asked.

          “Atmosphere, Hunk.” Lance said, clapping him on the back as he walked inside, smiling, “Ahhh... you can just smell the death in this place.”

          “Dude... don't say that!” Hunk whimpered.

          “Hello, boys.” Shiro said, eyeing Keith's shopping bags, “Keith, what'd you get?”

          “Voodoo doll kit.” Keith said, “Lance got a Ouija Board.”

          “I wanted an authentic one!” Lance said, “Plus, maybe we could use it to get in contact with something to help us defeat the evil!”

          “Oh, you got a smart boy, here. Yes, you do.” Boris put in, folding his hands.  Lance raised an eyebrow.

          “Shiro, who's this guy?” he asked.

          “He looks creepy as shit.” Keith said bluntly.

          “Keith! Shut up!” Hunk fussed, smacking Keith.

          Boris laughed as he introduced himself, “My name's Boris Buchanan. I own this little shop here.”

          “Ah. Okay. Great. Well, could you tell us how to get rid of this evil? Kind of throwing a kink in things.” Lance said.

          Boris sighed, flipping through the book, “Sadly, I can find no way to reverse it.”

          “Except for releasing a demon from the book to tell us how.” Pidge said bluntly as Boris sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose.

          “WHAT?! Release a demon?! Are you insane?!” Hunk asked, “No way! NO WAY, MAN!”

          “Yeah, I agree. That does sound like a stupid idea.” Lance said, crossing his arms.

          “Guys, he said we could put it all back once we're done!” Shiro said, “I mean, we have someone who knows what they're doing here so, why not let him?”

          “Shiro!” the other four yelled.

          “Well, it's the best shot we have.” Shiro sighed, stuffing his hand and stump into his pockets.

          The other four sighed heavily before looking at Shiro and then at Boris.

          “You know how to do this?” Lance asked.

          “Yes.”

          “And you can put the demon back?” asked Hunk.

          “Yes.”

          The four sighed and looked over at Boris... well... it _was_ their best shot.

          “Okay...” Keith said, “Fine, let's do it.”


	10. Summoning Circle

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shiro and friends try to contact an ancient Sumerian demon in order to restore the evil dead back to the Necronomicon.

Allura still couldn’t get used to the hand. Since she’d picked Hazel up to ride along with her due to the fact that she had Takashi Shirogane’s severed hand in her possession that helped point them in the right direction, she hadn’t been able to stop glancing at it.

          It was a ghastly sight… the hand’s fair skin wracked with decay and disease, some parts of it yellowed and blackened and other parts being a sickly green color, all culminating to a stump with dried blood that had scabbed over. Yet, the hand operated as if it were a totally normal hand.

          “So… how… can that hand do that?” Allura asked as she drove.

          “You’d never believe me if I told you.” Hazel replied as she looked down at the hand.

          “Well… I suppose I am a bit more open now. Given the fact that there’s a live, severed hand in front of me.” Allura said, “Go on. Give it a try.”

          Hazel sighed, supposing it was the best to go ahead and explain what was going on. After all, she did have a cop helping her.

          “All right, so that Book of the Dead I mentioned before?”

          “Yes?”

          “Well, the evil that came from it can possess things. Humans, animals, inanimate objects, dead people, the works. Anyway, the evil tried to break Shirogane as much as it could, and it started at possessing his hand, leading him to cut it off. But, instead of the evil moving on, it just stayed in, making the hand evil. And, due to his carelessness, the hand was left alive and, well, now, it wants him back.”

          “Why does it want him back?” Allura asked.

          “Well, revenge, of course.” Hazel told her simply, “Wouldn't you want revenge if you were abandoned by someone you know this well?”

          Allura shrugged. She guessed that Hazel was right... but all that she knew was that this would lead her to Shirogane...

          And that would be enough.

                                                          ***

          “Found anything yet?”

          “I'm trying to find one that's not too dangerous and that we can put back!”

          “Not that dangerous?! It's a fucking demon, dude! It's gonna be dangerous no matter what!”

          “Keith, let the man do his job.”

          It had been a while now and Boris was still flipping through the pages of the _Necronomicon_ in an attempt to find a demon that didn't seem _too_ horrible. He'd flipped through about five times now, causing the group to become restless, Hunk and Pidge playing a game on her phone, Lance lying on his back on the floor, bicycle kicking his legs in the air and Shiro just pacing with his arms crossed, wondering what exactly it was that Lance was doing.

          “Well... none of these seem to be very pleasant...” reported Boris, “But... this one I think will do the least amount of damage. His name is Paimon.”

          “All right, great, just summon him cause we're all starving here!” Lance said,getting up from the floor.

          “It's not that simple!” Boris said, “We all must participate! There's an order to these things!”

          “Well, let's set it up and get it over with so we can put him back.” Pidge said, “What do we need to do?”

                  

          Soon, the room seemed ready enough for a ritual, a circle of salt being made around everyone in attendance, the ceremony being headed by Boris, who now had everyone join hands.

          “All right, now, I'm going to need you all to open your mind...” he said, “Open you mind... and concentrate on the task at hand. Focus your energy on bringing this demon in here with us...”

          Everyone soon closed their eyes, beginning to concentrate, despite some skeptical energy floating around as Boris began to read the passage from the book which was written in Sumerian.

As Boris read, a strange wind began to blow, the lights beginning to flicker as Hunk opened an eye, looking around nervously.

          “Um... guys? What is... what's going on?”

          Suddenly, the lights all went out, for the exception of an unnatural blue light that glowed in the center of the circle of salt. It then began to brighten as Boris began to finish the passage, a faint form of body beginning to appear in the center, Hunk squeezing his eyes closed as a large, skinny and somewhat skinless figure appeared, the muscle that would be under his skin exposed, his eyes burning a bright yellow color, horns protruding from the top of his head, long, jagged claws sprouting from his fingers.

          Boris then opened his eyes, as did everyone else, Lance gasping as Hunk let out a horrified squeak.

          “What... the hell is that?!”

          “It's Paimon.” Boris said, “Now, all of you, be respectful. It's unwise to anger spirits.”

          “Yeah, especially if they're from an evil book of the dead.” Lance muttered before Shiro squeezed his hand.

          “Quiet, Lance.”

          “Oh, mighty Paimon...” Boris called out, the demon turning its horned head towards him, “My name is Boris, and these are my clients... and we were wondering if you could help us with something?”

          The demon turned then, its movements staggered... as if it were part of an old, broken, vintage television. It turned towards Boris, snarling, baring his sharp, pointed teeth.

          “ _Where is he?_ ” Paimon hissed, his voice distorted, deep and echoing as if he spoke from the bowels of hell itself.

          “Who, spirit?” Boris asked, trying to mask his nervousness.

          “ _You know whom I seek, mortal... the one... the champion..._ ” Paimon said again, “ _The one handed one._ ”

          Just like that, five pairs of eyes settled on Shiro, all of them wide and glaring.

          “Ohhhhhhhhh shit.” muttered Lance. With a jolt, Paimon turned towards Shiro, baring his teeth as he moved closer.

          “Um... hello?” Shiro said as bravely as he could.

          “ _You... you're the one standing in our way..._ ”

          “Wh-whose way?”

          “ _The one that no longer runs from the living or the dead. The champion._ ”

          Shiro furrowed his brow and looked over at the others, who looked even more confused.

          “I... I don't understand. Champion of... what?”

          “ _Foolish human... you are the champion. The champion that will use-_ ”

          “FREEZE! HANDS ABOVE YOUR HEAD, RIGHT NOW!”

          As the words cut through the air like a knife, Hunk jumped about three feet above the ground, screeching in fright, everyone else letting out a yelp as well. Unfortunately, as they all jumped, they broke free of each other's hands... thus ending the summoning circle... and releasing Paimon, who promptly vanished.

          “What the-?!” Shiro called out, turning around to see a dark skinned woman with white hair pointing a gun at his face. “Hey, whoa, whoa, whoa! Put that down!”

          “Not a chance, Shirogane!” the woman shouted, “Put your hands behind your back! You're coming with me!”

          As the woman screamed out orders, Keith looked around, quickly alerting everyone else.

          “Oh shit... god-damn it, where'd the demon go?!”

          “Oh, shit on a shingle...” muttered Lance, “Keith, why didn't you keep an eye on it?!”

          “What the hell are you all talking about?!” the woman asked, “Who are you children? Where are your parents?!”

          “Lady, no offense, but you kind of made us lose a demon we summoned and now we have to find him before he fucks up the world so could you kindly shut your quiznak?” Lance asked.

          “Why you... you little disrespectful bastard!” the woman said, “What the bloody hell is a quiznak?!”

          “Hey! Leave the kids alone, you're dealing with me, remember?” Shiro said firmly, jabbing a finger at the woman, “Now what the hell do you want?”

          “My name is Detective Alura Alfor and I'm placing you under arrest for the murder of your neighbor, Shirogane!” Allura said, taking her handcuffs from her belt.

          “Hate to break it to you, supercop, but... those don't really work on me.” Shiro said, holding up his stumped hand. “Slips right off. And _murdered?_ Lady, I never _murdered_ anyone!”

          “Oh Shiro, I wouldn't be so sure.”

          Shiro then looked behind Allura to see another woman approaching, standing behind her with crossed arms, “Just come with us and nobody gets hurt.”

          “What the... who are you?!”

          “Seriously, Shiro! Fuck them! Come help us find this demon! Kind of more important!” Pidge screeched. “Come on before something happen-”

          Suddenly, a scream rang out, accompanied by a large, squelching noise. Everyone gasped, turning and looking over to where Boris had been standing, a long, jagged blade through his chest, the blade stretching down to connect to the tail of the devilish Paimon. As blood began to spray from the wound, Paimon lifted Boris from the ground, stabbing him even deeper, eventually dropping him with a hard, sickening crack to the floor.

          Without a moment's hesitation, Allura immediately turned her gun to Paimon, shooting at the demon, which promptly vanished with a snarl.

          “ _What the hell is this?!_ ” Allura screamed.

          “WE JUST TOLD YOU IT WAS A DEMON, WOMAN!” screeched Lance, throwing his hands in the air, “ _ARE YOU FUCKING DEAF?_!”

          “Oh, shit!” rang out Pidge, looking down at Boris, whose eyes shot open to reveal stark white pupils.

          _“Why don't you watch your fucking mouths you filthy little shits?!”_ Boris snarled, now a full deadite, his voice transformed and his skin decaying as he lunged for Lance, quickly getting a bullet in the head from Allura, who had managed to drop her handcuffs as she shot at him again, the undead Boris only coming for her.

          “God dammit, why won't he die?!” she shouted.

          Suddenly, she heard a familiar click, looking down to see her ankle fastened to the table and Takashi Shirogane looking up at her.

          “Sorry, detective lady, but we've got a bus to catch.” Shiro said, turning to the kids, “Grab the book! Let's get out of here! NOW!”

          “Right!!” Hunk shrieked, grabbing both Keith and Lance around their waists, both of them grabbing their bags as Pidge grabbed the book, pushing their way past Allura's accomplice, who looked over at the deadite Boris then back at Shiro.

          “Shirogane, this isn't over.” she said. Shiro narrowed his eyes.

          “Fuck off, lady.” he said, his manners going out the window as he quickly took off after the kids and pushed them out the door. “Go! Go, to the Winnebago! Now, now, now!”

                                                          ***

          “WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?!”

          “That was a very bad idea going the worst possible way, Hunk...” Shiro said as he paced around the Winnebago, trying to figure out what to do, “The only person who could possibly decipher that book is dead... ish. So, what else can we do? We're screwed!”

          “Hey, hey, don't you give up on us, chainsaw dad!” Lance said, “You can't give up! Cause if you give up, then we'd might as well just go home to Cracksonville, bury our heads in the sand and let the evil take over the world!”

          “Well what do you suggest we do then, Lance? Use your ridiculous Ouija board to try and communicate with some spirit that won't be able to help us?!” Shiro fired back.

          “Hey, don't start getting fresh with me, bubble butt! I was just trying to offer a little comfort to you! But if you'd prefer,  I'll come and shove that chainsaw so far up your perfect ass that it'll slice your stupid little hair tuft in half!”

          “Guys, stop it!” Pidge cried out as Lance and Shiro argued, but neither of them heard her.

          “Oh no, not good with arguing!” Hunk cried, clamping his hands over his ears as he began to sing a random tune rather loudly in order to block out Lance and Shiro's arguing.

          “Oh please, McClain! You think you could take me?! You look like if the wind blew hard enough you'd just billow away!”

          “Better than looking like rejected 90s scene kid who still lives in his parents basement listening to Nirvana and drinking Faygo every night!”

          “Lance! Shiro! Stop it!” Keith interjected, stepping between them, “This is getting us nowhere!”

          “Oh don't try and go all Gandhi on us, Keith! We all know you live for this shit!” Lance shouted.

          “I do not!” Keith snapped, “You two are acting like a couple of ten year olds! Now grow the fuck up and talk about it like civilized men!”

          “I'll show _you_ civilized men, Kogane!”

          “GUYS! _SHUT THE FUCK UP!!!_ ”

          The whole room fell silent, the four young men looking over at Pidge, who stood at least a head shorter than all of them, her glasses off and her eyebrows furrowed.

          “All right, I'm fed up with all of this FUCKING YELLING! We're all in this together! That shit back there was totally out of our control all because that cop bitch and her girlfriend came in and fucked it all up! So all of you'd better GET A GRIP or so help me God, I'll beat the living SHIT out of ALL of you! _UNDERSTAND?!_ ”

          The whole Winnebago was silent for what seemed like hours, the only sound being Pidge's heavy breathing as Keith, Lance and Shiro all looked at each other, suddenly feeling very bad.

          “Um... sorry I called your hair tuft stupid...” Lance told Shiro, scratching at the back of his neck awkwardly.

          “Sorry I made that crack about your weight...” Shiro replied, “And for... everything else.”

          “Yeah, same. I-I'm sorry.” Lance said before looking at Keith, “Keith, I'm sorry, man. I... I don't know...”

          “It's okay.” Keith said, patting Lance's shoulder, “I was angry, too. I'm sorry.”

          “We shouldn't have reacted that way.” Shiro said, “I think we can all agree we acted like a couple of selfish babies, right?”

          “Right.” Lance and Keith said in unison.

          “All right, so let's try and figure out what to do.” said Shiro, sitting down next to Hunk, who looked as if he were about to be sick. “Hunk? You okay?”

          “Are you guys done with the yelling?” Hunk asked.

          “Yes, Hunk. Sorry about that.”

          “It's... it's okay.”

          As Shiro placed a hand on Hunk's shoulder, Pidge sat down next to him and pulled up something on her phone.

          “Here, I did a search of local psychics, mediums and any other paranormal experts.” she said, completely disregarding the fact that she had just screamed the house down to shut everyone up. “This one's the closest.”

          She then selected the medium she was talking about, a heavyset man's face coming up on her phone and a screen that read, “Rory Allen Butler, Local, Authentic Southern Creole Medium.” with a subtitle that read “I'm ready to help y'all out!”

          “Huh. He's adorable!” Lance said, leaning over to look at the screen, “How much you wanna bet he's only five feet tall?”

          “Ooh, look, 'Will serve fresh, authentic Creole dinner to any valued guest upon mention or request'!” Keith pointed out.

          “OKAY, WE HAVE TO GO HERE I AM _STARVING_!” Hunk shrieked as Pidge looked up at Shiro.

          “Shiro?”

          He shrugged, “It's worth a shot. I'm sure this Rory Allen guy is better versed than Boris was. And, since that cop woman's not on our trail anymore, we won't have to worry about it.”

          “Um, yeah, about that...” Lance said, “Did we just commit murder by leaving her and that other chick there?”

          “No, no way. We just solved the problem.” Shiro said, “She would've gotten us all killed if I hadn't cuffed here to the table. And plus, she had a gun!”

          “Yeah, but she probably doesn't know you gotta cut 'em into pieces.” Lance pointed out as Shiro shrugged.

          “Well, can't change it now. So, for now, let's get to this Rory Allen guy and see if we can't get some answers.”

          “And some food!” Hunk added, “All that excitement made he even more starving! And when he says 'authentic', I sure hope he means it! And not some imitation stuff! I'll cook it myself if I had to!”

          “And nobody'd blame you, buddy.” said Lance, going up and taking a seat in the driver's seat. “Me drive again? Shiro? Least I can do to make up for squawking at you earlier.”

          Shiro chuckled, “Sure, Lance. You take good care of her.” he said, patting Lance's shoulder.

          “All right, I get to be co-pilot this time.” Pidge said, jumping over and into the passenger's seat.

          “Okay, but no backseat driving!” said Lance, “Keith's been getting better about it, but he's still doing it and I don't want any complaints!”

          “Okay, okay, I won't.” Pidge said as Keith went and sat by Shiro on the couch as Hunk crossed to the cabinets to search for some chips.

          “Hey... you okay?” Keith asked, “I know I was kinda harsh with you and Lance... and... I'm sorry about that.” he added, handing his head a bit.

          “Don't worry about it.” Shiro assured him, tilting his head back up to look at him, “We all do dumb things sometimes. It's no big deal.”

          He then pushed Keith's bangs back out of his face, looking down at the boy's eyes and tilting his head in question, “Huh... purple eyes?” he asked, “You have purple eyes, Keith?”

          “Yep...” Keith said, chuckling nervously as he began to blush.

          “Wow... I've never seen that!” Shiro told him, “Huh. That's pretty amazing!”

          “Thanks...” Keith said shyly as he broke eye contact just to look back at Shiro again a minute later.

          As his eyes shifted, Keith could've sworn that he had caught Lance eying him in the mirror before immediately averting and concentrating on the road. As Keith looked back at Shiro, he shrugged. There was no way Lance could be jealous about his relationship with Shiro...

Or... Could he?”


	11. Southern Fried Medium

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shiro and the kids seek the help of a medium to help them defeat the evil dead.

“HAZEL! DO SOMETHING!”

“I'LL RIP YOUR PRETTY LITTLE FACE RIGHT OFF YOUR SKULL, BITCH!”

Allura had been trying, unsuccessfully, to reach her keys, which had been dropped in the confusion with Shirogane, in order to unlock the cuff around her ankle as Hazel sat watching in awe.

“Huh... so Shiro summoned a demon. Didn't think he had it in him.” Hazel mused as she looked over at the deadite store owner as if she was annoyed, taking the Kandarian dagger from her bag and pressing it against the deadite's face, searing him and making him shriek.

“Yeah, that's right. Who's in charge here, bitch?” Hazel asked as she grabbed the possessed store owner and threw him away from Allura.

“I'LL KILL YOU YOU DIRTY CUNT!” the deadite screamed as Hazel pressed the blade over his lips, causing a muffled shriek to erupt as she grinned.

“That's better.” she said, “Now, tell us how we can put this demon back in the book.”

She then lifted the blade from his lips, his lips seeming to drip and melt a bit. “You need the book, dumbass! He's going to follow wherever the book goes!”

Hazel smiled. “Thank you!” she said before plunging the dagger into the deadite's heart, causing him to shriek louder than he did before, his entire body beginning to melt before her until the flesh, muscle and organs melted away, reveling his skeleton which promptly faded into dust before she turned to a bewildered Allura.

“The demon's after Shirogane, of course. Come on. We have to get moving if we want to catch him.”

***

Rory Allen Butler's southern fried home certainly looked creepy enough. It was a large plantation house on the outskirts of a Louisiana bog, fog creeping in along the ground.

“Okay, so we have to go... in there?” Hunk asked, “No way.”

“It's either that or we wait to get eaten by a gross devil demon.” Keith said, “Which do you want?”

“Neither sounds nice!”

“Ah, come on, Hunky! There's probably some reeeeally good, authentic, Creole style cuisine inside that big, scary house!” Lance said, parking the Winnebago in the front yard, “It won't be that bad, trust me! This guy isn't scary! He makes the scary stuff go away!”

“I just don't want us to make another bad decision is all.” Hunk admitted.

“Well, we won't know until we do it.” Shiro said, “Anyway, can't be worse than having Paimon after us, right?”

“Maybe. But you could be wrong. This guy could be even worse.” Pidge reminded, placing a pistol in her jacket.

“Katie, really?” Shiro asked.

“Hey, never can be too careful.” she said, “Come on, let's go.”

 

Within a few minutes, the group stood on Rory Allen's porch, Hunk looking around nervously as Pidge and Keith studied a bit of moss they'd noticed growing on the wall, Lance snapchatting on his phone as Shiro knocked at the door. After a few seconds of no answer, he knocked again.

“Where is he?” Shiro asked.

“Maybe nobody's home.” Lance suggested as he played with the dog filter.

“No, he's gotta be.” Shiro said, knocking again.

“I'm comin', I'm comin'! Land sakes, can't get no rest 'round here these days...” a high pitched, feminine voice said as, suddenly, a small, plump man answered the door wearing a kimono, his salt and pepper hair pulled back into a ponytail, a glass of wine in his hand. As he answered, his eyes traveled up to look at Shiro's face.

“Oh my Lord, the good Lord done answered my prayers. Thank ya, Jesus. Thank ya.”

Pidge stifled a laugh as Shiro's face went beet red as he cleared his throat. “Er... um... are you... Mr. Butler?”

“Oh it's Rory Allen to you, big fella.” Rory Allen said as he took a sip of his wine, “And just who might you be. Mr. Hunk?”

“Um, actually... that's... me.” Hunk said shyly as he raised a plump hand.

“Oh...” Rory Allen said as he looked at Hunk, “Well, ain't you just a big ol' adorable teddy bear?”

“Really?? Awww....” Hunk said, blushing.

“Now, what can I do for you handsome gentlemen... and pretty little lady today?” Rory Allen asked, taking another sip of his wine.

“Well... it's... kind of a long story...” Shiro began.

“We accidentally released a demon from the Necronomicon and need your help to put it back.” Pidge said bluntly as everyone else stared at her in shock.

Rory Allen looked as if he were in shock, his mouth hanging open as he blinked a few times. “Oh... um... wow... well... do... do ya have the book with ya?”

“Right here.” said Keith, showing him the Necronomicon.

Rory Allen sighed and relaxed a hip as he leaned against the doorframe. “Well... ya'll come on inside. Haven't gotten a chance to straighten up so pardon my mess. Wasn't expecin' company today but, ya'll come inside.”

“A real, authentic Louisiana plantation house! This is so cool!” cried Lance, “Is it haunted? Please say it's haunted.”

“No, dude! We don't need ghosts on top of deadites!” Hunk objected as Shiro gave Lance a whack for being so forward.

“With me livin' here? Honey, this place is five hundred percent safe. So you can rest assured, big fella.” Rory Allen assured them as he led them into the living room, “Ya'll want some sweet tea? House wine of the south!”

“No thank you-” began Shiro before Hunk interrupted.

“Sure we do!” he cried, getting raised eyebrows from Keith and Shiro, “What?! Louisiana iced tea? I can't pass that up!”

“And... what about the 'authentic creole dinner'? Can we still request that?” Lance chimed in.

“Guys! We are not here to eat and drink tea!” Shiro said firmly.

“No, no, don't worry your handsome self, it's fine, really. Give me somethin' to do while I think of somethin' to do 'bout your demon problem.” Rory Allen said, “Plus, I can whip up a quick pot of gumbo and some fried crawfish for ya'll. But I may need some help.”

“I'm your man!” said Hunk, raising his hand.

“Trust him. He's got the pallet of a michillen star chef.” Pidge put in, “He keeps us all well fed. He knows what he's doing.”

“Oh. Well, all right.” Rory Allen said as he looked at the all of them, “So, in order to make things much easier for me, what are all ya'lls names?”

“Well, I'm Shiro.” Shiro began before Lance interjected.

“The chainsaw dad.” he said, smirking.

“And... that's Lance.”

“The most handsomest one.” said Lance, giving some fingerguns.

“I'm Hunk!” Hunk chimed in as he gave a small wave. “And that's Pidge!” he added, motioning to Pidge.

“Or Katie, whichever. But, most everyone says Pidge.” clarified Pidge, nodding over at Keith. “And the one with the long hair is Keith.”

“Well, nice to meet ya'll.” Rory Allen said, “Now, let's get this dinner going so I can try and solve your demon problem.”

 

After an authentic creole dinner cooked by both Rory Allen and Hunk, Rory Allen had elected to speak with Shiro privately due to him being the one who had come in direct contact the book the first time, eleven years ago. The kids had been sent upstairs to the guest suite where Pidge and Hunk had taken pieces from the Winnebago and old junk they'd found around the property to construct a metal prosthetic hand for Shiro while Lance played around on Snapchat and Keith worked on sharpening a pocket knife he kept on him.

“Man, Pidge, this thing looks pretty wicked!” Hunk observed as Pidge made it do a squeezing action.

“It's awesome what you can do with other people's old junk.” Pidge said as Lance snickered a bit. “Get your mind out of the trash, Lance!”

“Couldn't help it. You set me up for that!”

“Ugh... Hunk? Would you mind putting the finishing touches on this? I need to use the bathroom.” Pidge asked.

“Sure thing!”

“Thanks.” she said before getting up and walking down the hall to the bathroom. After relieving herself, Pidge washed her hands, taking off her glasses to wash her face. However, when she came back up from rinsing, she saw a dark, horned figure in the mirror.

She barely had time to scream before everything went totally black.

***

“All right, Shiro, now, to defeat this demon and the evil you're gonna have to go on a bit of a spiritual journey here in order to strengthen your bond to yourself and lessen the bond to the evil. The sooner you get yourself away from it, the luckier you'll be.”

Shiro sat across from Rory Allen in his study, his eyes closed as the psychic clensed the room.

“So... is this like an out of body experience?”

“Yes, it is. But you'll be going into your own mind and into a different realm of existence where this demon dwells. You see, due to your bond with this book, every creature you release from it has a direct connection to you.”

“Oh... well, if I'd known that I would've never gone through with it. That was kind of a shitty decision on my part.”

“Yes it was, doll. But don't you worry your pretty head. I'm a-gonna fix ya'll right up and get this demon back where he belongs.” Rory Allen assured him as he lit a few candles before sitting down andgiving Shiro a pill.

“Here. Swalla this down. It ain't nothin' bad, let me assure ya. I ain't into drugs and mushrooms and shit. I had my fun back when I was younger. Just take that, and take my hands.”

Having his questions answered so far, Shiro swallowed down the pill before taking Rory Allen's hands.

“All right... now, I need ya to concentrate... just focus on you... your body and nothin' else. If that pill did it's job, you should be enterin' a different state right 'bout now.”

Slowly, Rory Allen's voice faded away and Shiro opened his eyes to find himself on a beach with no one around. Looking around, he eventually saw someone who looked very familiar... someone who looked just like...

“Matt?”

But it couldn't be... could it? Matt was dead! Shiro had killed him himself! But... this was a different realm... so, Shiro ran towards Matt, who turned to see him, looking almost identical to Pidge in his glasses, his hair shorter though.

“Shiro.”

“Matt...” breathed Shiro, smiling as he hugged the man, feeling tears beginning to well. “I... thought I'd never see you again...”

“And you're probably right.” Matt said bluntly as Shiro stopped hugging him.

“Wait, what?”

“I'm just something that exists in this realm that you find soothing and or calming to tell you about what you should do, Shiro. I'm not entirely real.”

“Oh... well... I suppose you're right...” Shiro said sadly, “But what do you need to tell me?”

“How to defeat the evils of the evil dead of course!” Matt said, “You still have the book, right?”

“Y-yeah?”

“Well, get that book and go back to the cabin where this whole mess started.”

“Wait, what?!” Shiro asked, “Matt, no way!”

“Shiro, you have to! If you wanna get rid of these evil bastards forever, then you have to get that book back there, destroy it, and bury the remains! It's the only way to stop the evil dead.”

Shiro took a few breaths before looking over at Matt. Even though he was a dream... he looked so sincere... almost as if he were there with him.

“Matt... I... I don't know if I can do this...” Shiro said, “I... I can't take these kids back there... the evil will rip them apart. And... your sister...”

Matt then placed his hand on Shiro's shoulder, smiling with reassurance. “She's a big girl, Shiro. She can hold her own against these things. Trust me.”

Shiro smiled a little at that, remembering what a firecracker Pidge could be... but what about the others?

“But... the other three... Hunk is so... jumpy and... easily frightened and Keith seems so headstrong and impulsive and Lance... well... he's just... Lance.”

“Shiro, with a guy like you to guide them, they'll be great. Like it or not, you need them. You're a lot stronger together than you are all alone.”

Shiro thought for a moment and... he was right... like it or not, these kids helped make him stronger... and a better and more responsible person. He _did_ them...

“You're right...” he mumbled, “So... take them and go back to the cabin... and... how do we destroy the book.”

“You remember the dagger from the cabin? The Kandarian dagger?”

“The one with the bone handle? That I... used to stab you?” Shiro asked sheepishly, suddenly feeling bad.

“Yes, that one.” Matt chuckled, “You have to find it. And, it's of-”

Then, just like that, Matt faded away and all around Shiro seemed to go dark...

Something was very, very wrong.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! So sorry I haven't updated! Got busy with finals and then got accepted into the Disney College Program! But thanks for bearing with me! I'll update as often as I can!


End file.
